‘We are hurting, but we’ll come back and fight again,’ says Kolisi after Ireland defeat

The Springboks and captain Siya Kolisi found themselves on the other end of a one-point result when Irish replacement back Ciaran Frawley slotted a superb long range drop goal to give the visitors a breathless 25-24 win in the second Test in Durban on Saturday night.

Last year it was a trio of famous one-point wins for the Boks that propelled them to the World Cup title after they beat France 29-28, England 16-15 and the All Blacks 12-11 to lift the Webb Ellis Cup for the fourth time.

Although it wasn’t a game of the same magnitude, it was still one that the Boks wanted to win to seal a two-nil series win at home over Ireland, who had been their bogey team over the past few years, but instead they were forced to share the spoils thanks to a moment of brilliance.

‘Only have ourselves to blame’

Kolisi explained that the manner of the defeat was what hurt the most and that they would come back fighting from this loss, as they look towards the Rugby Championship kicking off next month.

“It always hurts when you lose a game and it’s how we lost (that hurts) as well. We only have ourselves to blame for the way we started (the match),” said captain Kolisi.

“We allowed them to set the tone for the game in the first half. We were not all on the same page. Credit must go to the guys who came on for bringing us back into the game.

“It would have been amazing to win the series, but we are hurting, we are not dead. We will come back again and fight again and keep going. There’s so much we can improve as a group. Each of us as an individual is going to look at ourselves. Hopefully we can rectify this next time out.”

Loss of Willie le Roux

Coach Rassie Erasmus admitted that an early injury to Willie le Roux, which saw him go off for concussion in the opening minutes of the match, disrupted the team with them unable to get over the tryline, as all their points came from the boot of flyhalf Handre Pollard.

But he was very impressed with the performance of 22-year-old Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu who was massively tested by the Irish under the high ball and still put in an accomplished performance against one of the world’s best.

“When Willie’s there our attack functions a bit better but Sacha definitely brings something else to the game with individual brilliance that’s not always structured,” said Erasmus.

“He did not look out of place in his third game.

“Willie’s not one of the youngest or the fastest anymore but he links the two wings and centres with one another.

“Sacha can take a lot from playing against a team that is really well organised and is ranked in the top one or two in the world.”