Kolisi hails Springbok’s spirit
SPRINGBOK captain Siya Kolisi has praised his team’s fighting spirit after they fought back from being 23-9 behind early in the second half against France in Paris on Saturday night to win 29-26.
The Boks had been 16-9 behind at half-time, but a much-improved second half showing by the tourists ensured they didn’t register back-toback defeats after losing to England the previous week.
A late breakdown penalty, secured by replacement forward Francois Louw, allowed the Boks to repel a dangerous France attack and kick into opposition territory.
After a series of line-outs and Aphiwe Dyantyi coming close to scoring, the Boks eventually crossed the whitewash after the hooter had sounded through replacement hooker Bongi Mbonambi, who had earlier hit his target in five lineouts to help secure the win for the Boks.
“The amazing thing is we could have given up when Cheslin Kolbe’s try was disallowed (earlier in the second half when he lost the ball going over the line), and also when Aphiwe was denied a try because of as forward pass. But we kept fighting,” said a relieved Kolisi.
“The message the whole week was about improving and being better than the week before (against England). When we most needed our maul to work this week (right at the end), it worked and came through for us.”
Kolisi conceded his team had simply been out-muscled by France in the first half of the match.
“They simply dominated us. That was the big thing ... we didn’t make any technical errors or such, but they got over the gainline, got over the ball, and we couldn’t move them.
“They won the physical battle in the first half, but we were much better after the break.”
Coach Rassie Erasmus was more blunt in his response, admitting his side had not delivered a clinical performance.
“Last week (against England) we lost in the last minute; this week we won it in the last minute ... so it’s a much better feeling this time,” said Erasmus.
“But this was not a perfect performance, it was definitely not a clinical performance, but it was a gutsy effort.”
The Boks now move on to Edinburgh and a date with Scotland on Saturday.