Springbok captain Siya Kolisi praised the composure of his teammates for a remarkable come-from-behind Castle Lager Rugby Championship victory over New Zealand at Emirates Airline Park on Saturday.
The Boks trailed by 10 points with as many minutes remaining before tries from replacements Kwagga Smith (loose forward) and Grant Williams (scrumhalf) turned the game on its head as 60 000 saw the Boks run out 31-27 winners (half-time 11-12).
The All Blacks scored four tries to three (the Boks’ other from hooker Bongi Mbonambi) in a match in which the home team held the lead for a total of only nine minutes.
“Whenever we are behind, we never panic,” said Kolisi, who left the field for a head injury assessment and with a suspected fractured cheekbone.
“We have been in far worse positions before and have come back. When they scored first in the second half (to put New Zealand 19-11 ahead) we came together and we said ‘cool, amazing, they’ve scored an intercept try, let’s go to the next set.’ Nobody panicked.
“We have so many cool heads and leaders; if I’m not talking, Eben’s talking or if it’s not him it’s Pieter-Steph or even the young guys with just a couple of caps.
“They’re given the license by the coach to speak because rugby knowledge isn’t measured by the number of caps you have – if you see something, say it. And that’s the great thing about this team today: we never panicked.”