Springbok coach Jacques Nienaber rued the missed opportunities as they suffered a disappointing 13-8 defeat against the top-ranked team in the world, Ireland, in their Rugby World Cup Pool B clash at the Stade de France in Paris on Saturday, but said they would keep their heads high and turn their focus to next week’s encounter against Tonga.
With the Springboks having won their opening matches against Scotland and Romania, the match in Paris was not a do-or-die, however, it does mean they have to register a win against Tonga next week Sunday to advance to the quarter-final.
"Hats off to Ireland, they were better than us on the day."
We missed a couple of points off the tee. I won’t say that’s the sole reason for not getting across the line. In the first half alone we lost two balls close to the try line and had another two opportunities later on, so that’s four opportunities, plus those points off tee. But I won’t say it is only goal-kicking."
Nienaber said that the inclusion of Handre Pollard is not a given. "We’ll have to discuss. Lots of things go in to team selection. We will get the medical status after 24-48 hours and then we will go through our team selection process as normal."
When drawn into the breakdown contest, Nienaber said: "I think that’s one area where Ireland were exceptional tonight. That’s probably one of the biggest reasons why we didn’t get momentum."
"We will just train harder and get better at it. We knew it was coming, it is something they do. We made some plans during the week that we thought would negate their tactics at defensive breakdowns but obviously it didn’t work consistently. There are lessons we will take out of this game. We will have to make new plans on how to deal with that better."
