Springbok coach Jacques Nienaber said the try scored by lock RG Snyman and Handre Pollards' match-winning penalty goal was the two big moments in their nail-biting Rugby World Cup semi-final victory against England on Saturday night
The Springboks staged a dramatic second-half fightback from 15-6 down with ten minutes to go to score a converted try and vital penalty goal to snatch the dramatic victory by 16-15.
Nienaber explained his decision to replace a struggling Manie Libbok late in the first half: “The beauty of this group is we are open and honest, and because we have the right players, the players accept it. Sometimes things aren’t going your way. We did it with Bongi [Mbonambi] in 2018. We took him off. For that specific day, he just was not on fire but he started the next week again.
"The main thing is everything is for the team and they understand that. Players take it on the chin. It doesn’t mean he [Libbok] won’t start next week. We didn’t miss a kick at goal tonight, every single opportunity we utilised, with him and Handre [Pollard]. That is how it is. It is for South Africa, not for the individual, not for the ego.
"We get messages and we see every single message that gets sent to us. It is for them. The Springboks are more important than anything else.”
On coming on early Pollard said: "We stuck to our plan we just had to execute a bit better here and there. We took it play-by-play, minute-by-minute, you can't look too far into the future in these kinds of games. It took us a long time but we got it done."
"Firstly the scrum penalty, that is what got us the opportunity. It was just a credit to them, they were unbelievable, It was a big moment but it is what you want as a player on this stage, to have moments like that as a fly-half is what you live for. It was fun." Pollard.
Pollard described his emotions after the result as unbelievable: "It's a lot of relief at this moment. Frustrated we weren't at our best tonight, especially in that first half. We knew we had so much more to give but fair play to England, I think they put us under pressure in exactly the right areas. But jeez the fight we showed never giving up, it is what we stand for as a team and as a nation."