Springbok coach Jacques Nienaber praised the team’s effort and physicality against Tonga on Sunday night in their final Rugby World Cup pool match in Marseille and doing all they could to remain in the running to defend their title.
“The key for us was to win first and then get the bonus point and we managed to get that early in the second half, then we chased points as much as we could,” said Nienaber."
“As things stand now, one of South Africa, Ireland and Scotland will miss out on the quarter-final, but all three can still make it. The pool will only be decided on Saturday.”
The Boks scored seven tries to three and given the physicality of the match, Nienaber was pleased with his team’s defensive effort.
“From a defensive point of view, I’m proud,” said Nienaber.
“We don’t see it as a negative. The team showed great attitude on defence against a Tongan team that got better as the tournament progressed, and I feel the guys put in a great shift in their physicality on defence.”
"Tonga, with the brilliance they have, can create something out of nothing. That is the beauty of it, because they have quality players - a lot of them have played and represented New Zealand and Australia before.
They understand what top international rugby is all about. Tonight you might not give them a sniff and then somebody does something magical.
"Sometimes when you concede tries you have not necessarily done something wrong, they have just done something that was incredibly brilliant. Sometimes you just have to sit back and applaud it. Sometimes it is just a good attack.
"You can't cover everything on a rugby field. If there was a try conceded because of a lack of attitude and work rate or a system error, that is something we can improve on."
Nienaber delivered bad news on the injury front, saying wing Makazole Mapimpi suffered a cheek injury in the match.
“Makazole has a fractured cheekbone, so he’ll go for scans on Monday to determine the seriousness of the injury,” said Nienaber.
With a week off before the team knows their fate in the competition, and another week before the quarter-final, Nienaber said it was not unchartered territory for the Boks.
“It’s a positive for us in that it was similar to our 2019 campaign,” said Nienaber.
“We also finished the pool stages early and had a 12 or 13 day break, so we’ve done it before as a team.
“We’ll give the players two or three days off to get away from rugby and have a mental break, and then work on the things we can do better to stay in the competition until the end.
“We’ll only know the outcome of the France and New Zealand pool on Friday and our pool on Saturday, and then we’ll know which teams will face one another.”