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'We found a way' - Siya Kolisi lauds team despite 'awful' discipline

Siya Kolisi of South Africa clashes with Tom Curry of England during the Rugby World Cup France 2023 match between England and South Africa at Stade de France on October 21, 2023 in Paris, France. (Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)

South African captain Siya Kolisi has lauded his Springboks side after they snatched a one-point victory from the jaws of defeat, battling back to beat England 16-15 in a thrilling Rugby World Cup semi-final in the Stade de France.

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England lead the game right up until the final six minutes after a long-range Handre Pollard penalty saved the day for the Boks.

Jacques Nienaber was visibly shaken after the game as the Springboks brains trust breathed a sigh of relief.

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Speaking directly after the game, Kolisi said: “It’s honestly all the hard work we have put in came off. It was really ugly today but that is what champions are made of. Credit to England, they have worked hard.

“They were written off before the World Cup. Coach Steve [Borthwick] and Owen [Farrell] and the team pulled themselves together and showed who they are.

“They are not a team you take lightly, all credit to them for being in the semi-final today. To my team as well it was ugly today like it was last week but we found a way to fight back and get back into the game. Well done to the boys. I am really proud of the fight that was showed, especially the guys who came off the bench once again.”]

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Kolisi admitted the England had the best of it in most aspects of the game, especially the kicking game.

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“England did so well in the kicking game, they outplayed us in that. Our discipline was awful in the first half, especially in the key areas where they could take the points. But I thought we fought back in the second half, we showed who we are and what we can do with a full 23.

“It’s going to be as big as it was tonight [playing New Zealand in the final]. The All Blacks played really well last night but we want to thank the South African supporters who came all the way here to support us and the ones back at home as well. Next week is going to be hard, it’s going to be special but may they stay with us and hopefully we can defend it.”

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Comments

4 Comments
b
by George! 640 days ago

Disgusting tactics of running five or six water carriers/medics on to the park whenever O'Keefe had his head turned to influence the pace of the game. To be fair both teams used the same ploy when it suited. I wish O'Keefe had penalised them earlier.

T
TT 641 days ago

Bok sleep walked (mentally). England woke, finally (apart from that last minute!).


Both teams can consider themselves lucky.


England because they were (as all post examinations have shown) extremely lucky to get past Fiji with ref decisions.


Bok were rattled & confused by the awoken England. Apart from their great but desperate try, Bok only made it due to unforced English errors. England will rue that, despite having 3-4 drop goal specialist (including substituting for it in last minute) tried to get that extra inch closer (that a mad Bok were never going to give em) rather go for goal.

C
CO 641 days ago

Awful, how England lost that we will never know. Boks looked like they'd run out of juice in the first half. Awful kicking and hoping. The worst game of rugby at this cup by far.

D
Damon 641 days ago

just shows how tolling the bigger games are - SA and NZ looked exceptionally flat with very poor kicking and just tired… Not normal for either team so you can see the fatigue from the weeks before, probably in reality the only reason England looked to have the SA pack stuffed really… Lets hope both finalists get enough rest and we get treated to the clash of the titans that it should be I know the ref this and the draw that etc etc but so much for the excellent northern hemisphere

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NH 1 hour ago
'The Wallabies need to convert much better - or Melbourne could be much worse'

Nice one as always Brett. I think the stats hide a bit of the dominance the lions had, and they would look alot worse in that first half when the game was more in the balance. You mention it here but I think it hasn’t been talked about enough was the lineout. The few times the wallabies managed to exit their half and get an opportunity to attack in the 1st half, the lineout was lost. This was huge in terms of lions keeping momentum and getting another chance to attack, rather than the wallabies getting their chance and to properly ‘exit’ their half. The other one you touch on re “the will jordan bounce of the ball” - is kick chase/receipt. I thought that the wallabies kicked relatively well (although were beaten in this area - Tom L rubbish penalty kicks for touch!), but our kick receipt and chase wasn’t good enough jorgenson try aside. In the 1st half there was a moment where russell kicked for a 50:22 and potter fumbled it into touch after been caught out of position, lynagh makes a similar kick off 1st phase soon after and keenan is good enough to predict the kick, catch it at his bootlaces and put a kick in. That kick happened to go out on the full but it was a demonstration on the difference in positioning etc. This meant that almost every contested kick that was spilled went the way of the lions, thats no accident, that is a better chase, more urgency, more players in the area. Wallabies need to be better in who fields their kicks getting maxy and wright under most of them and Lynagh under less, and the chase needs to be the responsibility of not just one winger but a whole group of players who pressure not just the catch but the tackle, ruck and following phase.

17 Go to comments
J
JW 1 hour ago
Competing interests and rotated squads: What the 'player welfare summer' is really telling us

Thanks for the further background to player welfare metrics Nick.


Back on the last article I noted that WR is now dedicating a whole section in their six-point business plan to this topic. It also noted that studies indicated 85-90% of workload falls outside of playing. So in respect to your point on the classification of ‘involvements’ included even subs with a low volume of minutes, it actually goes further, to the wider group of players that train as if they’re going to be required to start on the weekend, even if they’re outside the 23. That makes even the 30-35 game borderline pale into insignificance.


No doubt it is won of the main reasons why France has a quota on the number of one clubs players in their International camps, and rotate in other clubs players through the week. The number of ‘invisible’ games against a player suggests the FFRs 25 game limit as more appropriate?


So if we take it at face value that Galthie and the FFR have got it right, only a dozen players from the last 60 international caps should have gone on this tour. More players from the ‘Scotland 23’ than the more recent 23.


The only real pertinent question is what do players prefer more, health or money? There are lots of ethical decisions, like for instance whether France could make a market like Australia’s where their biggest rugby codes have yearly broadcast deals of 360 and 225 million euros. They do it by having a 7/8 month season.

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