PRETORIA – The Springboks have it in them to beat any team in the world, but a lack of consistency is hampering their progress according to captain Siya Kolisi.
The South Africans finished off their end-of-year tour with yet another defeat at the hands of Wales, their fourth in a row.
Even though the Boks will be returning home with only two wins from their four matches in Europe, Kolisi believes that they are heading in the right direction even though they were horribly directionless in their 20-11 defeat at the Millennium Stadium on Saturday.
The Boks have brought the curtain down on coach Rassie Erasmus’ first season in charge with a 50% record, having won seven of their 14 matches.
While Erasmus will cherish their historic win against the All Blacks in Wellington in the Rugby Championship, there were also unnecessary loses against England at Newlands and Twickenham and against Argentina and Australia away from home. Kolisi wants his side to play with the same intensity and intent in all their matches and not only reserve their best performance for a team like triple world champions the All Blacks.
“It’s tough to see positives, but I can say one thing is that I am really happy that we are not where we were last year. I think we are headed in the right direction, but there is a couple of games where we let go. We have to be consistent that is the most important thing. We can’t win the big games and then lose some of the games.
We have to pitch up in exactly the same way each and every week, and that’s why Wales have been winning so many of their games,” said Kolisi in the aftermath of Saturday’s loss.
Kolisi: I think we are headed in the right direction, but there is a couple of games where we let go. Photo: Ross Setford/Reuters
Kolisi conceded that his side were completely outplayed and outsmarted by a team ranked number three in the world, and their failure to adapt and ill-discipline cost them dearly from ending their four-year losing streak in Cardiff.
The Springboks were always a step or two behind Wales and many of their attacks amounted to nothing, while the opposition made good of their forays into the Boks’ danger zone.
“They outplayed and outsmarted us, and they really deserved the win and they showed why they had won eight games in a row. We weren’t good and we didn’t adapt. We knew exactly what they were going to do and they did it, but we didn’t adapt to that. All credit to them they really played well,” Kolisi said.