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The promise Kolisi has made for Springboks rematch with Wallabies
By Liam Heagney
Beaten Springboks skipper Siya Kolisi has promised a more determined effort from his team this Saturday in Brisbane when they play the Wallabies in their Rugby Championship rematch six days after a last-gasp two-point defeat on the Gold Coast. A Quade Cooper penalty at the death denied South Africa in what was their first away Test match since their World Cup final win over England in Japan in November 2019.
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The Springboks returned to the Test arena in July following a 20-month absence and while there was a whiff of desperation surrounding them in the week following their July 24 defeat to the Lions in Cape Town, Kolisi insisted desperation wasn’t the word to use to describe the fallout following their latest defeat.
“We watched the game and we knew we went wrong and it was very upsetting to lose like that, especially looking at the game, the mistakes we made and some of the things that are a given for us, that we normally being and we didn’t bring on the day so that is difficult to see,” said Kolisi at his virtually held eve-of-match media briefing ahead of the round four Championship game.
“I wouldn’t say desperate, I’d say more determined. We are more determined this weekend than we were last week. We were determined last week – we just didn’t show that on the field.
“We have really worked hard on what we had to do and individually you watch your game and you look at simple errors. Australia played well, really well, and I want to give credit to them, but we can be much better this weekend and we will.”
"The feedback and the work from them has been good, from Joel’s and the referee’s side"
– Seven weeks is a long time in rugby judging by how the Springboks have engaged with officials this week compared to Rassie's July rant #Springboks #RSAvAUShttps://t.co/9vMrouERvH
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) September 16, 2021
The world rankings permutations heading into Saturday’s round four of the Championship have highlighted that the Springboks, who haven’t beaten the Wallabies in Australia since 2013, could lose their No1 ranking if the All Blacks beat Argentina by more than 15 points and South Africa also lose to Australia. A smaller margin would be enough for the All Blacks to reclaim the top spot if Australia win by more than 15 points.
Kolisi, though, was unaware the Springboks’ No1 ranking was under threat. “I didn’t know that but winning is what we care about and we know that is the only way you can maintain that (ranking). It’s not the only thing we care about but it is the only way we can maintain that No1 spot so we want to win that weekend – but I didn’t know we could lose the No1 spot. We won’t focus on that, we just want to win. That is the most important thing so we can get back in the competition and have every chance to win the competition.”
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"If you look at it unemotionally you can say we could have won the Test match and nobody would have said anything, it wouldn't have been a debate"
– Jacques Nienaber had a busy media briefing after naming an XV with just two changes #Springboks #RSAvAUShttps://t.co/5YHpT2KI5z
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) September 15, 2021
