Ken Borland

All Blacks coach Ian Foster gave the Springboks their due after the world champions had edged out the new No.1 side in the rankings 31-29 in their thrilling Rugby Championship Test on the Gold Coast on Saturday, while South African coach Jacques Nienaber was delighted with the belief his side showed and the improvement in their play.

Like the previous match between the two powerhouses, it took a penalty at the death to decide an epic encounter, but Foster was fulsome in his praise of their conquerors.

“It was a massive arm-wrestle, South Africa were superb, they came with huge attitude, carried hard and moved us around. They had a very strong third quarter and got us a bit flustered, but I was very proud with how we got back,” Foster said.

“Then we just lost a bit of discipline in the last two minutes. We just weren’t as accurate as we needed to be at one ruck and we were beaten in that moment.

“We were up against a foe whose playing style we know can suffocate you, we showed we can deal with it, but we need to deal with it for longer periods.

“We got a bit muddled in the third quarter and in the last quarter we struggled to play with ball-in-hand in their half, but we hung tough. It was a tough old game and the Springboks probably played their best game today.”

Nienaber also pointed to the result being decided by a couple of decisive moments.

“The margins between one and three in the world are so small, last weekend against New Zealand and in the first Test against Australia we lost in the last plays of the game, but this weekend fortunately we got the opportunity to win.

“We’re not at our 2019 level yet, the balance in our game was a bit better today, but we’re not there yet,” Nienaber said.

“The players never doubted, they never lost focus although there was a lot of white noise and justified criticism after the second Test against Australia.

“They never veered off what we are trying to do. But the margins are so small, one misread and you can get punished, and this week we got the last call of the game. We try to take the emotion out of it and look at ourselves objectively.”

That being said, the Springboks did manage to sheal themselves out of their shells a bit on attack, their ball-in-hand skills being highlighted by a moment of handling magic by Lukhanyo Am that led to their first try and will be celebrated everywhere in South Africa from a hut on an Eastern Cape hillside to a luxury North Coast beach house.

Replacement flyhalf Elton Jantjies produced a top-class display of how to finish a game, a lovely pass helping wing Makazole Mapimpi score, followed by a fine drop goal to go with a couple of penalties.

“We had opportunities like this against Australia and last week, closing the game and getting the result, we’ve been in that position.

“The coach encourages us to take opportunities if we see them and we just tried to stay aligned in the last five minutes when a lot happened. We showed our belief and executed our plan,” Jantjies said.

Connacht, aided by the wind at their backs, broke free in the second half of their United Rugby Championship match against the Bulls at The SportsGround in Galway to turn a 10-7 halftime lead into a thumping 34-7 win on Friday night.

While the Bulls certainly rattled the home side in the first half, scoring first and causing their defence many anxious moments, their inability to adapt at the breakdowns and their inaccuracy in that key department gave Connacht too much free turnover ball and the Irish side were slick in capitalising. The Bulls were too quick to go off their feet at the rucks and were heavily penalised.

“We had enough chances in the first half and in the second half we were up against it because they understand how to play here with the wind pumping and the rain coming down, we struggled to get up the hill, there’s a significant rise and a slope down there in the corner where we got trapped,” Bulls coach Jake White said after the game.

“But we’ve got to adapt, there were a couple of calls that went against us, they had the rub of the green like winning a vital toss in cricket, but we turned ball over in our own half.

“It’s all about learning how to adapt to another environment, it’s as simple as that. The reality is we were not good in conditions that did not suit us, we weren’t accurate, we lost a lot of ball at the back of rucks.

“We’re away from home and we just have to learn and find a way to win. You could see the spring in Connacht’s step when they were 10-7 up at halftime and they knew we had not done enough in the first half,” White said.

Frustrated by how often they were penalised at the attacking breakdown, the Bulls called into service the box-kick in the second half, but that did not go well as Connacht counter-attacked superbly through elusive wing Mack Hansen and powerhouse inside centre Tom Daly.

A dreadful basic error early in the second half by scrumhalf Zak Burger at the base of a scrum put Connacht immediately on attack and Daly muscled over for a try. But the killer blow came in the 49^th minute when Hansen scored off a kick with a brilliant mazy run. There was a hint of obstruction in the try, but the officials allowed it to stand after watching replays, having ruled out a Connacht try in the first half for a marginal forward pass.

“Marcell Coetzee did ask the referee and some might argue that Lizo Gqoboka was obstructed. But we don’t want to be box-kicking and giving the ball away.

“We’ve got to find other ways to score points and not just rely on that and getting calls at scrums and mauls. But it’s so tough over here and at times we played really well, but our decision-making and accuracy needs to be better, especially on our carries and at the breakdown,” White said.

Scorers

Connacht – Tries: Tiernan O’ Halloran, Tom Daly (2), Mack Hansen, Tom Farrell. Conversions: Jack Carty (3). Penalty: Carty.

Bulls – Try: Lizo Gqoboka. Conversion: Johan Goosen.

Coach Jacques Nienaber said on Tuesday that the Springboks need to return to their “soul”, and one of their usual strengths they have sorely missed over the last fortnight has been physical dominance on the gainline.

The South African team is known for massive ball-carries and bone-crunching defence, both of which were strangely absent from their defeats against Australia.

So when the decision was made to give hardworking utility forward Franco Mostert a break and play him off the bench in Saturday’s Test against the All Blacks, it was surprising that the Springboks did not take the opportunity to play a big ball-carrier at blindside flank (such as one of the Du Preez twins), instead opting for the pace and Sevens skills of Kwagga Smith.

Nienaber explained on Tuesday that this particular selection was a balancing act.

“If you want to get a result against New Zealand then you have to test them in various areas. Physicality is obviously one area we enjoy, but you can’t only bring physicality, you need to test them in more than one department. You have to look at the balance of your pack and weigh up ball-carriers against players who can cover width and scramble for you.

“We have a lot of strong ball-carriers in the pack and Kwagga can carry in a different way with his evasion skills and timing of his carries, he brings those Sevens skills. You don’t want to have too many of the one kind of player. Franco has been a real stalwart for us this season, playing 80 minutes after 80 minutes, and moving him to the bench is purely to give him a bit of a break,” Nienaber said.

The Springbok backline has also missed some cutting thrust, some penetration, and Nienaber has looked to boost that department by returning to a 5-3 bench, with Elton Jantjies and Francois Steyn recalled to the matchday squad.

While the Springboks tried to go wide more often last weekend, they were not direct enough to create space for their wings and Jantjies is adept at playing flat and getting his backline away, while Steyn can hopefully make big metres across the gainline.

“What Australia did really was beat us with our own game, they changed completely from how they had played in the games against France and New Zealand. We probably got caught up in that a little and played twice the amount of rugby that they did. We probably pushed things a bit, but we need to play when it’s on, when the opportunity is there. We forced a few carries.

“The pressure from ourselves as a team is probably more than what the public put on us. We are all – coaches, management and players – in it together and we have been open and honest with each other, we can talk straight up with each other. We take the criticism, it is tough to swallow, but I would worry if there was no criticism – it shows that people feel something for the team,” Nienaber said.

Springbok team: Willie le Roux, Sbu Nkosi, Lukhanyo Am, Damian de Allende, Makazole Mapimpi, Handre Pollard, Faf de Klerk, Duane Vermeulen, Kwagga Smith, Siya Kolisi (captain), Lood de Jager, Eben Etzebeth, Frans Malherbe, Bongi Mbonambi, Trevor Nyakane. Bench – Malcolm Marx, Steven Kitshoff, Vincent Koch, Franco Mostert, Marco van Staden, Herschel Jantjies, Elton Jantjies, Francois Steyn.

Flyhalf Lionel Cronje made his name in the Eastern Cape with his ability to produce some magical trick plays, but Sharks coach Sean Everitt said on Thursday that the visitors will not be looking to deck out their game with any embellishments when they take on the Bulls in the Currie Cup final on Saturday.

Everitt’s comments mean the Sharks have been sending mixed messages this week, with captain Phepsi Buthelezi earlier saying that they wanted to play “their brand of rugby” and “move the Bulls around”.

But the coach who has risen through all the structures at Kings Park toned down the views of his enthusiastic eighthman.

“A Currie Cup final is not time to be experimenting with manoeuvres. Lionel kicks really well and he brings something to the attack as well. But there is a plan in place, Curwin Bosch has a very good boot at the back and he can counter-attack. But Lionel is our general and I’m sure he will execute the plan. A lot depends on what you get from the Bulls defence.

“They like numbers on their feet and they are really good at it. We will play what is in front of us and if they have a full defensive line then it means there will be space behind. A solid set-piece gave us the platform to beat the Bulls the last time we played them. If you get that right then it makes your job a lot easier. If we can do that again then I’m confident we can get the result,” Everitt said.

The Sharks coach said his team also have to avoid conceding a chain of penalties at the start of the final.

“If you look at the Sharks’ performances the last few games then our discipline has improved, but we conceded six or seven penalties in the first half of the semifinal and that put us under pressure, it meant we couldn’t build scoreboard pressure. In last season’s final, we also gave away a couple of early penalties which Morne Steyn kicked.

“Not conceding early penalties is important to how you want to play, you must never underestimate the influence of scoreboard pressure in a final. There will be nerves, and the team that settles down first will probably go on to make the better start. And that’s really important in a game of this magnitude. Both teams need to handle the intensity of the game,” Everitt said.

Sharks team: Curwin Bosch, Yaw Penxe, Werner Kok, Marius Louw, Thaakir Abrahams, Lionel Cronje, Sanele Nohamba, Phepsi Buthelezi (c), Henco Venter, Dylan Richardson, Gerbrandt Grobler, Le Roux Roets, Thomas du Toit, Kerron van Vuuren, Khwezi Mona. Bench – Dan Jooste, Ntuthuko Mchunu, Khutha Mchunu, Thembelani Bholi, Reniel Hugo, Lucky Dlepu, Jeremy Ward, Anthony Volmink.