Ken Borland

Midfield kingpin Damian de Allende warned on Saturday that the Springbok defence is back at its best, even though the All Blacks were able to just slip from their grasp in the closing moments of their Rugby Championship Test in Townsville, sneaking a 19-17 win through a last-ditch Jordie Barrett penalty.

A stout defensive effort by the Springboks frustrated and harried the All Blacks, who were definitely frazzled and made many uncharacteristic handling errors. It was pressure rugby at its best, but unfortunately South Africa’s lack of attacking intent meant they were unable to capitalise.

“Our defence was much better than in the last two weeks, it was pretty solid and we were dominant in our hits. We got the detail right – they were very good at attacking from set-piece, they move the ball well in contact, but I think we adapted well. New Zealand are a very potent attacking threat but we scrambled well.

“I thought we controlled the tempo of the game quite well, we got into the game nicely, we were dominant. But it was just heartbreaking in the end and I feel we deserved a bit more. But against the Lions we got the last penalty, Australia did it against us and now tonight it’s happened too. But we will keep working hard and hopefully the advantage will turn our way in the next close game,” De Allende said on Saturday.

Kwagga Smith made coach Jacques Nienaber look like a wise old owl with his selection of him as starting flank, the former Springbok Sevens star producing a series of crucial contributions at the breakdown. Smith was at the forefont of a massive effort to restore the pride of the world champions, and All Blacks coach Ian Foster admitted afterwards he was relieved to survive what he called a “ruthless and clinical” onslaught.

Smith promised more of the same next weekend against the same team. “We had real hunger before this game because last week was not a great performance. I think we played well and we were unlucky to fall short. Next weekend is our last game before a break, so I’ll give my all on the field, everyone can leave it all out there,” Smith said.

Continuity and consistency has trumped the new blood and bolters that are so beloved of rugby fans in the selection of the Springbok squad for the end-of-year tour of the United Kingdom, with Stormers lock Salmaan Moerat the only player announced on Tuesday who was not part of the extended Rugby Championship squad.

South Africa will play Wales, Scotland and England on successive Saturdays from November 6 and, after that, the Springboks only have 17 Tests before defending their World Cup crown in France in 2023.

And, as coach Jacques Nienaber pointed out, they have already been refreshing the squad with the likes of Ox Nche, Joseph Dweba, Moerat, Jasper Wiese, Aphelele Fassi, Sanele Nohamba, Jaden Hendrikse and Grant Williams all coming into the squad this year.

“We’ve been building a squad since 2018 and there have been young players coming in at every turn, all coming into the mix. So we are continually breeding young players. And we want consistency in selection, keeping experience because we will need that going into the 2023 World Cup. The average age of the squad is 28 but there are still some very experienced players.

“A Northern Hemisphere tour is a big challenge for us, just looking at their squads and the fact we haven’t won all three matches over there since 2013. So we had an eye on that in terms of selection and also that we only probably have 20 Tests left to the World Cup. So the big thing is to build continuity and consistency in selection, because we lost a lot of time in 2020,” Nienaber said after announcing his 32-man squad on Tuesday.

The 23-year-old Moerat owes his place to the absence of RG Snyman, who continues to be dogged by injury and has not played a Test since the World Cup final.

Moerat has always had the pedigree of a future Springbok, being captain of both the SA Schools and SA U20 teams. He is big – two metres tall and weighing 111kg – and athletic and has that bit of mongrel that all great locks have. The Paarl Boys High product is a strong defensive presence for the Stormers.

The other players not considered due to injury were scrumhalf Faf de Klerk, prop Frans Malherbe, loose forward Pieter-Steph du Toit, wing Cheslin Kolbe, utility forwards Nicolaas Janse van Rensburg and Rynhardt Elstadt, and flyhalf Johan Goosen.

Nienaber confirmed that Bulls star Goosen, who has played 13 Tests but last represented the Springboks back in 2016, was on their radar for the tour before he sustained a bad knee injury two weeks ago in Cardiff.

“We were definitely looking at Johan so it is unfortunate he got injured, especially with Morne Steyn retiring from international rugby. We are looking at young flyhalves and there is some nice talent. But a guy like Handre Pollard has played more than 50 Tests but is still relatively young at 27. That’s not a bad age for the next World Cup and no team has won that trophy with a flyhalf younger than 25.

“Elton Jantjies is also 31 and in those positions in the spine you always like experience to handle the pressure at a World Cup. We also wanted more experience with Morne Steyn in the British and Irish Lions series and the Rugby Championship, so with him announcing his retirement there is now a spot open. It would be nice to see some of the younger flyhalves get through a whole season for their franchise, get that continuity in performance,” Nienaber said.

Squad: Willie le Roux, Francois Steyn, Makazole Mapimpi, Lukhanyo Am, Jesse Kriel, Damian de Allende, Damian Willemse, Sbu Nkosi, Aphelele Fassi, Handré Pollard, Elton Jantjies, Cobus Reinach, Herschel Jantjies, Grant Williams, Duane Vermeulen, Kwagga Smith, Jasper Wiese, Siya Kolisi (captain), Marco van Staden, Lood de Jager, Franco Mostert, Marvin Orie, Eben Etzebeth, Salmaan Moerat, Trevor Nyakane, Vincent Koch, Thomas du Toit, Malcolm Marx, Bongi Mbonambi, Joseph Dweba, Ox Nché, Steven Kitshoff.

Springbok captain Siya Kolisi manned up to the recent problems his team have been having on the field with an heroic individual effort against the All Blacks on Saturday, so it was little surprise that he was very much in touch with his emotions after a match in which he gave so much but still ended on the losing side, thanks to a late New Zealand penalty.

The flanker dashed around the field with focused intensity on Saturday and was particularly useful at the breakdowns, doing a lot of the dirty work as he and Kwagga Smith formed a great partnership. But as much as he led from the front, Kolisi was not able to drag his team across the line as they went down 17-19.

“It definitely hurts. We prepared as well as we could, we were focused on the right now. I felt on the field that we were in there with a good chance, our set-pieces dominated. So it is really hard to lose a game like that, but we know that if we stick to our processes then the results will come.

“We wanted to stand up and fight today. We knew as a team what we are capable of and it was about making sure we played properly. New Zealand brought high speed and physicality, but I can’t fault my team – our plan worked, our structures were really good. So I don’t really know what went wrong,” Kolisi said after the match.

Many critics have pointed to the Springboks’ decision, after they had taken a 17-16 lead into the last 10 minutes, to kick front-foot ball away, including two up-and-unders from the All Blacks’ 22, as the reason for their defeat. Kolisi said this was the choice of the players and he stood by the tactic.

“The players made that call, we decided to stick to the game-plan. That’s how we know how to play and we will never change from that. And it had been working all day,” Kolisi said.

For the third time this year the Springboks were involved in a Test match that was decided by a penalty at the death as they went down 17-19 to the All Blacks in Townsville on Saturday, coach Jacques Nienaber describing it as “swings and roundabouts”.

New Zealand fullback Jordie Barrett slotted a brilliant, angled, long-range penalty to deny the Springboks, who had enough front-foot ball in the closing stages to shut the All Blacks out, but instead tended to kick that possession away.

South Africa won the series against the British and Irish Lions through Morne Steyn’s fairytale penalty, but were then beaten two weeks ago by the Wallabies through a last-ditch kick by Quade Cooper, another comeback story for the ages.

Nienaber was philosophical about the heartbreaking loss that consigned the world champions to a third successive defeat and handed the Rugby Championship title to New Zealand.

“It was a proper Test match as you’d expect from No.1 versus No.2 and there were small margins. We each have our own DNA, but it is always physical and comes down to a couple of points. That’s the contest, it’s that tight and we expected that. Our game-plan worked, we had opportunities, and it went down to the wire, decided by a call here or a bounce of the ball there.

“Obviously we are hurting because we could have pulled the result out of the game, we were in position to do it. I thought it was an excellent effort and we deserved victory. We were in with a shot at the end and it comes down to small margins. But we won against the Lions like this and Australia did the same to us, so it’s swings and roundabouts,” Nienaber said after South Africa had lost a third successive game for the first time since 2016.

While the Springboks brought their old physicality, sheer mongrel and set-piece brilliance to the contest, the criticisms that they overdo the kicking game and are poor with ball in hand will return as they wasted front-foot ball when they were still in the lead in the closing stages by kicking it away. Bizarrely, up-and-unders were twice launched from the All Blacks’ 22, South Africa losing the resulting 50/50 contests when they had been in control of possession.

But Nienaber defended the decision-making of his halfbacks.

“We always say we must attack space, but we had 14 players in front of us in the line and only one at the back, so unfortunately there was not a lot of space. We want to create a one-on-one and you can do that with a passing game or with a kick. If you can create space through the air, or by running or passing, then you must attack there.

“If we had won this match then we wouldn’t be having these questions. We could have probably shown more composure at the back end of the game, finishing the match better when we were leading up to the 78^th minute springs to mind as something we could have done better. This is a very experienced side but we sill have a lot to learn as a group,” Nienaber said.