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'We got near our goal': Springbok captain Kolisi defends game plan

DURBAN, SOUTH AFRICA - SEPTEMBER 24: Siya Kolisi captain of South Africa and Jacques Nienaber coach of South Africa react after The Rugby Championship match between South Africa and Argentina at Hollywoodbets Kings Park on September 24, 2022 in Durban, South Africa. (Photo by Darren Stewart/Gallo Images/Getty Images)

Springbok captain Siya Kolisi has backed his team’s game plan once again after they fell short in their Rugby Championship title bid.

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New Zealand won the tournament for an eighth time on Saturday after rivals South Africa failed to secure a bonus point and a wide winning margin when beating Argentina 38-21 in Durban.

The Springboks needed a bonus point in the final match of the tournament and victory by at least 39 points to pip the All Blacks for first place.

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Earlier on Saturday, New Zealand thrashed Australia 40-14 in Auckland for a bonus-point triumph that took them to 19 points in the six-round Championship.

“It’s always an honour to get a win against a team like Argentina.

“We had a plan and we got near our goal.

“It was going well [when leading 17-0] and we wanted to score again but they scored just before half-time and that set us back a little bit.

“They started well in the second half and then our discipline let us down at times and we had two yellow cards.

“The biggest thing [so far] from this season was that even in the games we lost we created so many chances.

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“Our game plan is working but we just don’t take the opportunities.”

Kolisi believes the last few rounds of the Rugby Championship has helped his team build some momentum heading into their November tour.

“We had some great, great moments in the Rugby Championship, and we also had some weak moments,” said the captain.

“We were looking for consistency.

“We know we can win against anyone in the world on our day, but today was a big step forward because it was a third win in a row and we want to take that momentum with us into the end-of-year tour.”

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The Springboks will face Ireland, France, Italy and England on consecutive Saturdays in November.

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Flankly 2 hours ago
'Absolute madness': Clive Woodward rips into Borthwick in wake of NZ loss

Borthwick is supposed to be the archetypical conservative coach, the guy that might not deliver a sparkling, high-risk attacking style, but whose teams execute the basics flawlessly. And that's OK, because it can be really hard to beat teams that are rock solid and consistent in the rugby equivalent of "blocking and tackling".


But this is why the performance against NZ is hard to defend. You can forgive a conservative, back-to-basics team for failing to score tons of tries, because teams like that make up for it with reliability in the simple things. They can defend well, apply territorial pressure, win the set piece battles, and take their scoring chances with metronomic goal kicking, maul tries and pick-and-go goal line attacks.


The reason why the English rugby administrators should be on high alert is not that the English team looked unable to score tries, but that they were repeatedly unable to close out a game by executing basic, coachable skills. Regardless of how they got to the point of being in control of their destiny, they did get to that point. All that was needed was to be world class at things that require more training than talent. But that training was apparently missing, and the finger has to point at the coach.


Borthwick has been in the job for nearly two years, a period that includes two 6N programs and an RWC campaign. So where are the solid foundations that he has been building?

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