Springboks: Coach thrilled with players who put their hands up

Springboks coach Jacques Nienaber is relieved to have ended a four-match losing sequence in Australia under his charge.

The Springboks hadn’t won in Australia in nine years in all heading into the match but produced a bristling display that ensured they never looked like losing the Test in Sydney.

Standing up when it counts

Nienaber was particularly thrilled with the players who put their hands up this week, with Canaan Moodie scoring a try on debut, Damian Willemse putting in a man of the match display after shifting to 10 and Jasper Wiese playing the best match of his Springbok career.

“It’s the first time in 9 years that we’ve won here. From our side, it’s obviously just a great result to win in Australia again,” Nienaber said afterwards.

“Interestingly, as a core group we’ve played here 5 times and we’ve only our first now. The record here has been poor. I’m happy we could change that because 20% still looks better than 0%.

“I’m also really happy for the players, particularly the guys who were given opportunities in this game because they definitely took them.”

Springboks had to perform

Nienaber believes that the Springboks felt that had to perform having lost back to back matches in the Rugby Championship.

“We put a lot of internal pressure on ourselves in trying to get things right. I’ve mentioned in the past that we’re quite transparent with the players so they know what the plan is,” said the coach.

“We’ve used 32 players in the last four games and with that comes a bit of risk. We needed some answers and the players gave us some.

“It’s not like the players weren’t up for it last week, we just ensured that the opportunities we created were capitalised on. Our preparation was good this week, this performance was definitely a step up.”

The Springboks will soon jet to Argentina to prepare for the Test against the Pumas in Beunos Aires in two weeks time.