Boks have to 'look in the mirror'
Sun, 05 Sep 2010 11:49
John Smit fronting up to the media. (c) Gallo
It was a bitterly disappointed Springbok captain John Smit who admitted that his team has 'a lot of work to do' if they hope to retain their Rugby World Cup crown next year.
A long-range penalty goal by fullback Kurtley Beale, with the last kick of the match, enabled Australia to defeat South Africa 41-39 in a thrilling Tri-Nations match in Bloemfontein on Saturday.
The Wallabies scored four tries in the space of 17 minutes in the first half, spreading the ball wide with quick passes which enabled their pacy outside backs to rip open the Springbok defence.
They led 31-6 shortly before half-time, but the Springboks came storming back to go ahead 36-31 with 11 minutes left.
The lead changed three times in a frantic finish before Beale, with his only kick at goal in the match, calmly booted the ball over from near the right touchline, just inside the South African half.
Smit, lamenting the poor defence and yet another bad start to a Test this season, said hard work lies ahead in the next year before the 2011 World Cup kicks-off in New Zealand.
"Our defence was not good, especially early in the game, and they cut us too easily," said Smit.
"In this game the margins are small. The try right at end of the first half helped and I thought we started the second half well.
"Usually our defensive system works well, but it did not work tonight. We only have ourselves to blame."
It's been a tough year for Smit and his team and the Bok skipper admitted: "I don't feel good about our season.
"We've been disappointing in the Tri-Nations when one looks at the players and experience we have. We're below par and far off the pace. It will be no use giving a bunch of excuses - we're off our best and have work to do.
"Everyone knows here we have players with experience.
"I told all the players that we have to get up tomorrow and have a good long hard look at ourselves in the mirror and see if we've brought everything we have got to the team.
"The margins are small but for two weeks in a row now we have had to play catch-up rugby and we don't want that. We want to be clinical for a full 80 minutes and if we are honest with ourselves we are below par and off the pace."
Bok coach Peter de Villiers said: "If you look at how we started this one, I think we showed character to come back. Our structures are in place and they can take us to World Cup if executed properly."
De Villiers said they should not have allowed the Wallabies to build momentum. "If we execute our plans perfectly, it will be very difficult to score against us.
"We needed to show more character on defence, like we did in Soweto and last week at Loftus," added the Bok mentor, who suffered his second home loss to the Wallabies since taking over at the start of 2008.
"I think the turning point was the lineout where we got penalised. The ball did not travel five metres and we were expecting them to be penalised for that, but instead we got penalised and they scored.
"While we can look for answers, the fact is that we can't afford to play catch-up two weeks in a row."