Nienaber hails effort as Boks fall short
Jacques Nienaber said he believed the Springboks’ prematch target of a bonus point win by 39 points was achievable but they lost crucial momentum at the end of the first half in their 38-21 Rugby Championship victory over Argentina on Saturday.
The Boks needed to win big to catch New Zealand at the top of the standings and took a 17-0 lead in the first half at King’s Park in Durban, but ultimately fell short as the All Blacks claimed the trophy.
Nienaber was left to rue a scrappy try for Argentina at the end of the opening period in which his side defended poorly and, he said, it changed the momentum of the contest.
“We had a plan and we were on task up to the 35th minute,” he told reporters.
“We gave away a penalty then and they got into our half. We made a few mistakes and they scored a try just before halftime.
“That changed the momentum of the game and it made it much harder for us after that.
“Before then we felt the plan was working.”
Nienaber said his side’s stop-start display was not down to a lack of effort or desire to chase the imposing winning target.
“We needed to get a 39point winning margin to win the trophy, and we all bought into it.
“The guys gave full effort out there. I don’t think anyone could fault the effort.
“In the end, we came up short, but you can never take a win in the Springbok jersey for granted.
“Victory is always special, so we are glad we came out on the right side of today’s result, even if we didn’t get what we needed to win the championship.”
SA now embark on a tour of Europe in November, where they play Ireland, France, Italy and England, the last of those matches outside the international window.
“We play the number one and number two in the world in the first two games of the tour. So it will be challenging for us,” Nienaber said.
“We will get a good idea where we are (ahead of next year’s World Cup) on the endof-year tour.”
Springbok captain Siya Kolisi called for more consistency.
“We had some great, great moments in the Rugby Championship, and we also had some weak moments. We were looking for consistency.
“We know we can win against anyone in the world on our day, but today was a big step forward because it was the third win in a row and we want to take that momentum with us into the end-of-year tour,” Kolisi said.
Nienaber said he had used 34 players in the tournament and some questions had been answered over position depth.
“We built some squad depth,” he said.
“Some players got some experience but that wasn’t the main aim which was to win the Rugby Championship and we fell short of that.
“But there were some positives to take out of it.
“We are in a better position now in terms of learning about certain positions than we were when we started.
“There was always this big issue around flyhalf and whether Damian (Willemse) could play there.
“Hats off to Frans (Steyn). In a very short space of time he had to slot in and he will just get better in terms of that.
“We also had Kurt-Lee (Arendse) and Canan (Moodie) come through and now Cheslin (Kolbe) has to perform if he wants to get back in but we know he is quality, and we look forward to welcoming him back.”
The Boks are next in action against Ireland, the No 1 ranked team in the world, in Dublin in November.