Confident Boks will carry momentum into end-of-year tour

A torrid year is not quite over for the world champions, despite their face-saving 31-29 victory over the All Blacks on the Gold Coast on Saturday, as the Springboks still have an end-of-year tour to the United Kingdom.

Before their impressive win at the weekend, the Boks, after nearly 18 months of not playing a Test, had endured a challenging, albeit triumphant series against the British and Irish Lions, and had beaten Argentina twice.

They then seemed to be running out of steam, however, as they lost both Tests against Australia and then succumbed to a narrow defeat against New Zealand, losing three in a row for the first time since 2016.

South Africa will face Wales, Scotland and England on their next tour, but they will now do so with some confidence following an epic victory over the No 1 ranked team in the world and their greatest rivals.

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“To have some momentum is massive. You need it if you’re going to build a team and rotate your squad,” Nienaber said.

“The margins are so small when numbers one to three play each other, but the players never doubted, they never lost focus and never veered off what we wanted to do.

“We’re not back at our 2019 level yet and we are still learning, but it’s been unbelievable for us to play against our Sanzaar partners again after we missed out in 2020. They bring a different style and mentality, and it’s nice to compete against a different skill-set and appetite for risk.”

Man of the match Duane Vermeulen, whose trademark turnover in the final minute kept the Springboks’ hopes alive, said the victory had been a massive boost and gave an insight into just how hard bubble life in Australia had been for the last six weeks.

“It’s been a difficult time, away from our home and families, not seeing your kids or spending time with them, which is vital for your mental state,” Vermeulen said.

“For the first two weeks we were in a hard bubble, making our own beds and cleaning our rooms. We’ve just had to keep on adjusting and we got it all together at the end.

“There are good vibes and energy now, which we can take into the end-of-year tour.”

Vermeulen and the rest of the pack were superb in exerting their alpha-male dominance on the All Blacks, but in the end it was some vital touches from substitute backs Elton Jantjies and Francois Steyn that made the difference.

Nienaber was full of praise for his bench.

“Last week I wanted to bring Elton on but didn’t because of Marco van Staden’s injury, and I probably should have bitten the bullet and done it. He was excellent when he came on and Frans was brilliant. He has unbelievable ability with those 50/22 kicks which we utilised,” Nienaber said.

“We have quality players on the bench. They are there to fulfil a role, once the starters have done their specific jobs and emptied their tanks.”