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Kolisi reacts to South Africa's first win in New Zealand since 2009

South Africa celebrate against New Zealand

South Africa captain Siya Kolisi warned there is “so much more to do” after the Springboks shocked New Zealand in an enthralling 36-34 Rugby Championship triumph in Wellington.

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Rassie Eramus’ side had lost their past two matches and never won at Westpac Stadium, but a display of guts, guile and a splash of luck against an error-strewn All Blacks earned a famous win.

It is the first time South Africa have beaten the world champions in New Zealand since 2009 and also the highest points tally they have racked up as the world’s top-ranked team.

But skipper Kolisi says the win must be the start of what is to come.

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Speaking after the match, he said: “I’m really happy. It’s been a tough, tough couple of weeks and the way we carried ourselves and believed in ourselves this week… I have no words, I can’t say more.

“Our main thing is effort with the team. We’ve let ourselves down in the last couple of games [defeats to Argentina and Australia].

“We’ve shown a little bit of what we can do. We have to build on this. All we have is each other away from home and the boys were there for each other.

“Last week we were struggling in the scrums and a little bit in the set-piece. We didn’t do anything differently. It’s just belief.

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“I have to give credit to the coaching staff. They’ve kept calm. The mindset they came with, they believed in us.

“All we wanted to do today was give 100 per cent for each other. We gave ourselves a chance and we should be proud of ourselves. There’s so much more to do.”

New Zealand captain Kieran Read accepted his side, who would have retained the title with a bonus-point win, were below par in the first half, but had nothing but praise for South Africa.

“You’ve got to give them all the credit in the world, the way they defended in the second half. The boys kept working hard. They defended outstandingly well,” he said.

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“They came off the line and really put our skills under pressure. We give them their credit. They deserved the win. They put us under pressure and we didn’t respond the way we need to.

“The first half was disappointing. We were a little bit off the pace. They scored their tries around the outside and stretched us.

“We wanted to build our points through phases and were guilty of maybe not looking after the ball.

“It’s really disappointing. We didn’t want to finish our home season this way. The Championship is still on the line and now we’ve got to finish well on the road. The boys will learn lot of lessons from today.”

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Hellhound 30 minutes ago
South Africa player ratings | 2024 Autumn Nations Series

There is this thing going around against Siya Kolisi where they don't want him to be known as the best national captain ever, so they strike him down in ratings permanently whenever they can. They want McCaw and reckons he is the best captain ever. I disagree.


Just like they refuse to see SA as the best team and some have even said that should the Boks win a third WC in a row, they will still not be the best team ever. Even if they win every game between now and the WC. That is some serious hate coming SA's way.


Everyone forget how the McCaw AB's intimidated refs, was always on the wrong side, played on the ground etc. Things they would never have gotten away with today. They may have a better win ratio, but SA build depth, not caring about rank inbetween WC's until this year.


They weren't as bad inbetween as people claim, because non e of their losses was big ones and they almost never faced the strongest Bok team outside of the WC, allowing countries like France and Ireland to rise to the top unopposed.


Rassie is still at it, building more depth, getting more young stars into the fold. By the time he leaves (I hope never) he will leave a very strong Bok side for the next 15- 20 years. Not everyone will play for 20 years, but each year Rassie acknowledge the young stars and get them involved and ready for international rugby.


Not everyone will make it to the WC, but those 51/52 players will compete for those spots for the WC. They will deliver their best. The future of the Boks is in very safe hands. The only thing that bothers me is Rassie's health. If he can overcome it, rugby looks dark for the rest of the rugby world. He is already the greatest coach in WR history. By the time he retires, he will be the biggest legend any sport has ever seen

2 Go to comments
J
JW 45 minutes ago
'They smelt it': Scott Robertson says Italy sensed All Blacks' vulnerability

No where to be seen OB!


The crosses for me for the year where (from memory);


This was a really hard one to nail down as the first sign of a problem, now that I've asked myself to think about it. I'd say it all started with his decision to not back form and fit players after all the injuries, and/or him picking players for the future, rather ones that could play right now.


First he doesn't replace Perofeta straight away (goes on for months in the team) after injury against England, second he falls back to Beauden Barrett to cover at fullback against Fiji, then he drops Narawa the obvious choice to have started, then he brings in Jordan too soon. That Barret selection (and to a lesser extent Bell's) set the tone for the year.


Then he didn't get the side up for Argentina. They were blown away and didn't look like they expected a fight and were well beaten despite the scoreline in my opinion. Worst performance of the year in the forth game and..


Basically the same problems were persistent, or even exaggerated, after that with the players he did select not given much of an opportunity, with this year having the most number of unused subs I can remember since the amateur days.


What I think I started to realise early on was that he didn't back himself and his team. I think he prepared the players well, don't get me wrong, but I'll credit him with making a conscious choice in tempering his ambition and instead choosing cohesion and to respect (the idea of it being important in himself and his players) experience first and foremost (after two tight games and that 4th game loss). I think he chose wrong in deciding not to be, and back, himself. Hard criticism.


And it played out by preferring Beauden to Dmac on the EOYT (though that may have been a planned move).


I hope I'm right, because going through all the little things of the season and coming up with these bullets, I've got to wonder when I say his last fault is one we have seen at the Crusaders, playing his best players into the ground. What I'm really scared of now is that not wanting a bit of freshness in this last game could be linked with all these other crosses that I want to put down to simple confidence issues. But are they really a sign that he just lacks vision?


Now, that's not to say I haven't seen a lot of positives as well, I just think that for the ABs to go where they want to go he has to fix these crosses. Just have difficult that will be is the question.

23 Go to comments
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