Boks reflect on 'breakdown blues'
Sun, 17 Aug 2008 16:35
Fronting up: Peter de Villiers and Victor Matfield face the media
Springbok coach Peter de Villiers and team captain Victor Matfield struggled to isolate the main reasons for South Africa's 0-19 defeat by New Zealand at Newlands on Saturday.
The All Blacks managed to control the match and render the Springbok attack ineffective on a day in which the home team became increasingly frustrated at the breakdowns, where they were outperformed extensively by the Kiwis.
On many occasions Bok skipper Matfield and scrumhalf Fourie du Preez were seen gesturing to Australian referee Matt Goddard, as they complained about the way in which the All Blacks managed to slow down the ball at the rucks, spoiling the Boks' chances of recycling the ball at speed.
Matfield said that the team would make sure of their facts before they made any further conclusions about the match.
"I think it's very difficult when you're in the heat of the moment," said Matfield.
"We'll probably have to go back and have a look at it again. We just felt that the [All Blacks] tacklers kept on lying there .
"But we'll have to go back and see if we could have done something about it.
Matfield also commented about his questioning of referee Goddard during the match.
"The referee didn't really give me any answers, he said he was more worried about our guys coming from the side [at the rucks]," he said.
"So we'll have to go have a look [on video replay] and see if we can improve our technique."
Bok coach Peter de Villiers felt that his side were undone by committing basic errors, but assured the fans that the Springboks would do everything in their power to overcome Australia in Durban next week.
"We're very disappointed, but we're happy for Percy. Maybe the way we've been written up this week got to us a little.
"It took us 20 minutes to get into the game. Simple mistakes cost us out there.
"Tactically we didn't do a lot of things wrong. We make simple mistakes. We came back from that, but we then again we allowed the game to get away from us."
De Villiers said that the All Blacks took charge of the game in the second period.
"In the second half their [All Blacks] tactical kicking was much better, and they kept us pinned in our half.
"But I know the abilities of my guys - they will be back," the coach stressed.
"We don't slip on the same banana peel twice, so we can make a promise to our fans that we'll definitely be back."
It was also a less than perfect way for veteran fullback Percy Montgomery to celebrate his 100th Test for the Springboks, but the player remained grateful and said that he looked forward to repairing the damage next week.
"The whole week, and even today [matchday], was so overwhelming, it was great," said Montgomery.
"I had the support of the coach, the team and the fans. It's been a long career for me, but we didn't get the result we wanted due to basic errors.
"But the best thing about rugby is that we've got next week to make things right."
By Phil Coetzer
