Siya Kolisi was delighted with the composure shown by the Springboks to come from behind and beat the All Blacks in an Ellis Park humdinger on Saturday.
The Springb0ks trailed by 10 points going into the final 20 minutes of the match, before tries from supersubs Kwagga Smith and Grant Williams snatched a 31-27 victory at a sold-out Ellis Park.
Kolisi, who was off the field for a Head Impact Assessment during the Bok comeback, was delighted to see the cool heads shown by his teammates to pull the win out of the hat.
“Whenever we are behind, we never panic,” Kolisi said.
“We have been in far worse positions before and have come back. When they scored first in the second half (to put New Zealand 19-11 ahead) we came together and we said ‘cool, amazing, they’ve scored an intercept try, let’s go to the next set.’ Nobody panicked.
“We have so many cool heads and leaders; if I’m not talking, Eben’s talking or if it’s not him it’s Pieter-Steph or even the young guys with just a couple of caps.
“They’re given the license by the coach to speak because rugby knowledge isn’t measured by the number of caps you have – if you see something, say it. And that’s the great thing about this team today: we never panicked.”
KEO: Thank you to Springboks and All Blacks
Rassie Erasmus was equally delighted, but added that the Boks could have no complaints if New Zealand had held on to claim the victory.
“I think the guys did really well to pull off a victory against a New Zealand team that played really well and dominated the whole game,” said Erasmus.
“Our boys had a few opportunities but for long spells we were out of the game. They dominated for long periods, but the guys stayed focused and came through.
“At one point they were three tries up and looking like getting five points and our focus was on stopping them getting the bonus point. New Zealand would have been deserving if they had won.”
Erasmus confirmed that Kolisi (suspected fractured cheekbone) and Kurt-Lee Arendse (concussion) are the major injury concerns going into next Saturday’s rematch in Cape Town.
The Bok coach praised the contribution of Aphelele Fassi and Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, who both produced excellent performances in their first game against New Zealand.
“We wanted to see how the newer players could handle the occasion and the pressure and Aphelele Fassi came through with flying colours,” said Erasmus.
“Sacha came through as well – but that’s not to say that Handre (Pollard) is out of it or that Manie (Libbok) is out of it. We’re going to keep on building the squad.
“To play New Zealand is big; to beat New Zealand and is big and for players to step up against Tier One nations like Ireland and against an amazing New Zealand team is really good for our long-term plans.”
Photo: Dirk Kotze/Gallo Images
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Src: sarugbymag.co.za
