Kolisi praises Boks for fighting back in ‘massive’ battle against Wales

Springbok captain Siya Kolisi was full of praise for his team’s effort after they produced a stirring comeback to recover from a 15-point half-time deficit to floor Wales with a Damian Willemse penalty in the 83^rd minute to clinch an exciting 32-29 win at a raucous Loftus Versfeld in the first Test on Saturday evening.

It was a tale of two halves, with a huge Welsh effort in the first 40 minutes seeing them run in two opportunistic tries to wing Louis Rees-Zammit, while flyhalf Dan Biggar nailed a conversion, drop goal and a penalty, to hold a shock 18-3 lead at the break.

However, a massive second-half effort from the Boks, with the pack finally kicking into gear, saw them score four tries in the second 40 to seal what looked to be an unlikely win at one stage.

“It was tough. They stopped our mauls and we didn’t kick according to our plan, but we knew that they would come out like that,” admitted Kolisi.

“I wasn’t stressing too much in the first half. I knew we weren’t getting right what we wanted to do and as soon as we got that right I knew the momentum would shift.

“They controlled the game in the first half and had us playing on their terms, so the way we responded as a team was very good and the guys that came off the bench brought the energy that we needed and the fightback began. Once the mauls started going we started going forward.”

Shining light

Bok eighthman Jasper Wiese was one of the few shining lights in the home side during the game, along with Willemse.

While Willemse put in a superb first 40 at fullback and second 40 at flyhalf, however, it was Wiese in the end who cracked the nod for the man-of-the-match award.

“We didn’t start the first half as we wanted to, but we just said at half-time that we must stick to the plan and in the second half I think we put in a massive shift,” said Wiese.

“We knew that some things would go their way and we just had to stick to what we were doing and we would get the edge on them. So credit to the boys, they put in a massive shift and I am just very proud.

Narrowly missing out

Welsh captain Dan Biggar was understandably very disappointed after the full-time whistle, after his team just missed out on what would have been a historic win, but admitted that his side had made it hard on themselves during the second half.

“It was a huge effort considering we were written off from minute one, so we are really disappointed. There were probably a few key moments towards the end that cost us,” said Biggar.

“We invited a bit of pressure on ourselves in the second half and couldn’t work our way out of it. We still had a couple of chances and just came down on the wrong side of those key decisions.

“In the first half we didn’t give South Africa a huge amount. We were accurate and played in the right areas of the field. We took our chances, we didn’t want to overcomplicate the game and we knew that it was going to be a match of attrition.

“One thing we were a little disappointed with was our discipline. We conceded a lot of penalties, and invited pressure on ourselves.”