Kolisi and Nienaber relieved to sweep ‘slippery’ Scotland aside

Springbok captain Siya Kolisi and coach Jacques Nienaber were relieved men after the Boks emerged from their opening World Cup pool match with a comfortable 18-3 win over Scotland on Sunday night.

A lot of talk in the build-up to the World Cup had been around pool B, featuring the Boks, Ireland and Scotland, being the pool of death and Nienaber mentioned a number of times how the team would essentially be playing knockout rugby from day one.

So with the potential banana peel of Scotland in the opening game, it was a relief to see the Boks put in a decent performance to get the defence of their title off to a good start.

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“I think it could have been a slippery one. Scotland are a good team, they are not number five in the world for nothing,” Nienaber said.

“We were only leading 6-3 at half-time after having some dominance. They are a nuggety team and hats off to them. We had to grind the win out.

“Rugby is not a complicated sport. If you get a good platform from the forwards, then you can create space and create some magic.”

Difficult game

Kolisi also praised the effort of Scotland, explaining that they had made it difficult for them, but he was happy to see his team take their chances in the second half, while he was also proud to make the fans back home and in France happy.

“It was tough in the first half. Everything was close. They are an amazing side, all credit to them,” Kolisi said.

“We were a bit slow to get into our game and take opportunities. In the second half we took our opportunities from the set-piece and I am proud of the way the boys did that.

“For me it doesn’t matter whether it is the World Cup or another game – to wear this jersey is amazing. We are playing for something far bigger than ourselves, for all the hard-working people back home who don’t give up. That is where we get our energy from.

“To see so many South Africans come out, I am so grateful. France has made this World Cup special from the first game so I am looking forward to seeing more of it.”

Romania next

Looking ahead to the next World Cup game against Romania, although the Boks are likely to name a largely changed team with their squad players getting a run in that match, Nienaber claimed that they still needed to put in a strong performance to assert their dominance.

“The big thing for us is to get a return for our dominance. We just couldn’t build any scoreboard pressure (against Scotland),” Nienaber said.

“There is a lot to look at and we have to make sure we pitch up with the right mentality against Romania.”