Meyer unfazed by scrappy win

Coenie Oosthuizen with Adriaan Strauss and Trevor Nyakane during the Boks disappointing clash against Italy on Saturday.

Coenie Oosthuizen with Adriaan Strauss and Trevor Nyakane during the Boks disappointing clash against Italy on Saturday.

Published Nov 23, 2014

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Padova – With just five games scheduled before their opening match of the World Cup in 2015, South Africa coach Heyneke Meyer would have hoped for a more accomplished all-round display against Italy in Padova on Saturday.

The Springboks laboured to a 22-6 victory in a game in which the home side were in contention going into the final 10 minutes before the Boks pulled away with a late try from Bryan Habana.

The positives for Meyer were few with too many handling errors, turnovers conceded and lost set-pieces, though he was pleased with the defensive display and the manner in which the Boks dominated the scrums with a second-string front-row.

“I’m very happy with the result and fact that we didn’t concede any tries and no points in the second half,” Meyer told reporters. “I’ll always prefer a try-count of 3-0 instead of 5-3.

“I’m very proud of the way in which they came through, especially in the scrums, where Trevor (Nyakane), in his first start, Coenie (Oosthuizen) and Julian (Redelinghuys) were part of a dominant performance against a very good Italian scrum.

“The same goes for Johan (Goosen), playing at fullback in a test for the first time, while I thought Nizaam {Carr) made a big impact when he came on.”

Meyer knew that winning the World Cup next year will at times mean substance over style and would not have been unhappy to see his side put under such pressure, yet grab the win.

“It was always going to be a scrappy affair and it’s never easy playing away from home against a very passionate Italian side,” he said.

“The Italians had a proper go and they deserve a lot of credit for their performance. But our guys stuck to their guns and pulled it through when it mattered most.”

Captain Jean de Villiers felt the Boks showed their quality in patches but admitted they would have to improve for next weekend’s clash in Wales.

“We put in a big performance against a fired up team and while there is always room for improvement, I thought we played some great rugby at times,” De Villiers said.

“We have one week left in our season and everyone involved knows the test against Wales in Cardiff next weekend will be a massive challenge - we’ll be going all out to finish 2014 on a high.” – Reuters

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