Africa-Press – South-Africa. In Durban
Springbok wing Makazole Mapimpi said taking their opportunities on Saturday when they face Argentina at Kings Park on Saturday is a must.
Mapimpi, a regular try scorer for South Africa, played a crucial role in creating Malcolm Marx’s late try in the 36-20 win in Buenos Aires last week that secured the Boks the critical bonus point that keeps them in the Rugby Championship hunt.
Mapimpi, who has had an excellent Rugby Championship for the Boks despite going some games without scoring tries, said they’re happy as a group when points are scored, regardless of who scores them.
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“Scoring tries is something that’s always good for me and it’s something that I’ve been doing a couple of times,” Mapimpi said.
“It’s my job to finish up the opportunities that are created for me and I feel that we’ve been creating plenty of them.
“However, it doesn’t matter if it’s a forward or a back, so long as we scored points.”
The Boks have been guilty of not using their try-scoring opportunities effectively.
This was evident in the Tests against Wales and Australia where the Boks camped in the golden zone but didn’t always get the requisite return on investments.
It was the same against the All Blacks at Ellis Park where the Boks didn’t make the best of their chances and lost a game that may impact their Championship chances.
Mapimpi, who chuckled when asked about his interactions with Australian wing Marika Koroibete in the two Tests, acknowledged that hindsight allowed them to learn from their mistakes.
“In a game of rugby, there are things that happen that you don’t see at first, but only pick up when you watch the game in hindsight,” Mapimpi said.
“You look back at those things and look to rectify them as a team. As players, you learn and make mistakes as you go along.
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“I guess it depends on how you make your mistakes and how you learn from them.
“I remember the Ellis Park game where against the All Blacks, we didn’t quite do justice to ourselves in the last 10 minutes.
“There were opportunities to score tries in that game and we didn’t finish them off as best as we could.”
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