Africa-Press – South-Africa. Siya Kolisi admitted that the Springboks missed an opportunity to stick the boot into their beleaguered rivals after losing to the All Blacks 35-23 at Ellis Park on Saturday.
The Springboks could have made it two in two to start the Rugby Championship, but didn’t start or finish the game well.
Ian Foster’s men travelled to SA on the back of a first series home defeat to Ireland, having sacked two backroom coaches, including former Sharks coach John Plumtree, and with the axe hanging dangerously above their head coach.
The defeat of the All Blacks in Mbombela a week earlier was so comprehensive that people began to believe that they’d see a year like 2009 when the South Africans had total dominance over New Zealand.
However, the All Blacks could use the result in which they scored four tries to prop themselves back up to form.
“Of course, we would have loved to gain momentum but we can’t keep our heads down for long because there’re still four more games to go,” said Kolisi, looking forward to the rest of the Rugby Championship.
“But yes, we did miss an opportunity. But they played really well and they controlled the game.
“We fought back in the second half but in one moment, we slipped up and fell asleep during a quick tap and that’s what they can do.
“We’ll see what squad is going [to Australia] next week and we have to focus on Australia now.”
The Springboks next face Australia in Adelaide on 27 August, a team that humiliated them in two losses in last year’s bubble championship held in Oz last year.
Back then, the Boks were cock-a-hoop after slaying the British & Irish Lions 2-1 and beating Argentina twice at home.
The Wallabies, however, cut them back down to size.
Head coach Jacques Nienaber rued some missed attacking opportunities and calls that didn’t fall SA’s way as they did in Mpumalanga a week prior.
“I was thinking in the coaches’ box that sometimes games like this happen, where you’re over the try line three times and get zero points for that and rightly so,” he said.
“You create the opportunity but sometimes it goes for you and you score those tries. I’m not even counting the one where the ball got ripped from Ox Nche and Lukey (Lukhanyo Am) was through but we got called back for a knock-on.
“There were some nice opportunities there on attack but ja … sometimes it goes that way.”
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