Springbok boss Nienaber after Wales win: ‘We just had to deliver’

Springbok coach Jacques Nienaber has admitted that the thought of defeat couldn’t be entertained in the build-up to his team’s 30-14 victory over Wales in Cape Town in the final match of the three-Test series on Saturday.

The result gave the Boks a 2-1 series win following the opening week’s 32-29 Springbok victory at Loftus Versfeld in Pretoria and the 13-12 defeat in Bloemfontein in the second Test.

“It was a final for us and we just had to deliver! There wasn’t an option of not delivering,” said Nienaber after the Cape Town win.

Springbok captain Siya Kolisi agreed that the team knew what was expected of them: “We had so much to play for as a team,” he said.

“A lot of people had a lot to say about us – and we want people to have an opinion and criticise the team – because we know they care. So, we treated this as a final.”

Etzebeth and Mbonambi

Kolisi also paid tribute to Eben Etzebeth and Bongi Mbonambi who were making their 100^th and 50^th appearances respectively.

“We wanted to make it special for Eben and Bongi, but they didn’t make it about themselves,” said Kolisi.

“They wanted the team to win first and that’s the best gift we could give to them. They have been amazing for us as a team. We can never question their character and what this team means to them. I am so grateful that I could be out there with both of them.”

Handre Pollard, Mbonambi and Siya Kolisi scored tries while Pollard kicked six from six with three conversions and three penalty goals, to a Tommy Reffell try and three penalties from Dan Biggar.

Rugby Championship

Next up for the Boks is the Rugby Championship, which kicks off in just under three weeks from today. And Nienaber knows there is work to do for the Boks.

“It was not a polished performance (against Wales). I think there’s a lot to build still. I thought the set pieces functioned well, but still there was a couple of hiccups there – at scrum time we’re still getting used to the brake foot thing – we will get better at that. We will have to build a lot still in terms of where we are.”