Springbok loose forward Kwagga Smith said both he and the entire team were hungry and highly motivated to fight back from their defeat against the All Blacks at Eden Park when the sides cross paths for the second time in a row, in Wellington on Saturday.
“We’re very disappointed. I think we had opportunities and we didn’t use them. It’s now about reviewing that and making sure that next weekend, when we get those opportunities, we actually use them and convert them into points.”
The Boks showed true fighting spirit to power their way back from 17-3 down 10 minutes into the second half, to work themselves within striking range of drawing the match in the dying moments, but unfortunately, errors at crucial times were costly.
“Those first two tries, they hadn’t even put up one phase, and they scored. I don’t know if it was a lack of intensity or focus, but it was just a little bit too easy for them to get those 14 points. Then when we got into their 22, we lost the ball or gave away a penalty. Those are opportunities we didn’t use.”
“It’s difficult, because you build up, build up, and then something goes wrong and you lose a game. It’s not like we planned it. We came into this game wanting to fire and get the win, but things went against us. We’ll review it and make sure we get better.”
“Personally, I’m very hungry for the next game, and hopefully, I will get a chance to play. The whole squad is motivated for the next game. We had a lot of opportunities, which we missed out on Saturday, but we know what areas we need to work on. Once we have our review, we’ll take things from there.”
“We know what our standards are, and we’ll definitely try to rectify that.”
The energetic loose forward said one of the main differences between the teams in Auckland was the hosts’ ability to capitalise on their point-scoring chances, something the Boks struggled to do.
“Obviously, it was a massive game, and we definitely wanted a different result,” said Smith. “It was a tough match. We didn’t use our opportunities, and they used theirs and scored a few tries, so we need to work hard for the next game.”
Smith, similarly to Bok coach Rassie Erasmus, refused to use the pouring rain as an excuse, which followed heavy rains in the city overnight on Friday, and said they needed to be more effective regardless of the conditions.
“I think the breakdown battle was quite big tonight. Ardie did really well in his 100th game; it was a massive occasion for him. The ball was slippery, it spat out at a lot of breakdowns, and they got a few turnovers. We’ll review that and make sure we clean it up. The weather played a part, but we can definitely do better in that area.”
Smith said he is positive the Springboks can beat the All Blacks in Wellington.
“Our scrum functioned well, and the fact that we didn’t give up and kept playing was really good. We got ourselves back into the game and gave ourselves a chance. But like I said, we didn’t use our opportunities, we left a lot of points out there.”
The Springboks are currently in third position on the Castle Lager Rugby Championship standings with five points, tied with the fourth placed Argentina. The Wallabies, who staged a dramatic 28-24 victory against the Pumas on Saturday, are second on nine and the All Blacks lead on 10 points with three rounds of matches remaining.