Jacques Nienaber defends erratic Bok kickers
The Bok coach says his team failed to gain momentum and did not use opportunities on the field.
Jacques Nienaber refused to blame his goalkickers after the Springboks missed 11 points in the crucial World Cup pool loss to Ireland on Saturday night.
Ireland slotted two second-half penalties through captain Johnny Sexton and replacement Jack Crowley to claim a 13-8 victory in the brutal Test match in Paris.
The Springboks had more than enough opportunities to seal the win, after taking an 8-7 lead through Cheslin Kolbe’s try, but flyhalf Manie Libbok and scrumhalf Faf de Klerk missed three penalties and a conversion between them.
Despite the issue being raised in the post-match press conference, Bok head coach Nienaber said his kickers were not the problem.
“Hats off to Ireland, they were better than us on the day,” said Nienaber. “We missed a couple of points off the tee. I won’t say that’s the sole reason for not getting across the line.
“In the first half alone, we lost two balls close to the try line and had another two opportunities later on, so that’s four opportunities, plus those points off tee. But I won’t say it is only goal-kicking.”
South Africa’s wayward kicking performance has seen calls for Handre Pollard to be handed the No. 10 jersey in the final pool match against Tonga after he was recalled to the squad as an injury replacement.
Pollard’s kicking was crucial to the Springboks in their 2019 World Cup campaign in Japan, where he finished as the tournament’s top points scorer.
“We’ll have to discuss. Lots of things go into team selection,” said Nienaber. “We will get the medical status after 24-48 hours and then we will go through our team selection process as normal.”
REPORT: Ireland’s sharpshooters ground Boks
In analysing the defeat, Nienaber said that Ireland caused the Boks issues at the breakdown.
“I think that’s one area where Ireland were exceptional tonight. That’s probably one of the biggest reasons why we didn’t get momentum.
“We will just train harder and get better at it. We knew it was coming, it is something they do. We made some plans during the week that we thought would negate their tactics at defensive breakdowns but it didn’t work consistently.
“There are lessons we will take out of this game. We will have to make new plans on how to deal with that better.”
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Here is what some Caxton Local Media readers across the country had to say about referee Ben O’Keeffe’s performance and the Springboks’ kicking last night:
Lowvelder readers:
Yolande Goldswain: “Missed a lot of late tackles in the first half and the last ball was out and playable when he blew the whistle. But the Boks missed too many kicks at goal so can’t quite blame the loss on the ref.”
Christo Dippenaar: “Forget the ref. We missed 11 points from kicks.”
Pretoria Rekord readers:
Ryno Steenekamp: “Die Bokke het hierdie game loshande verloor, hulle het heelwat geleenthede gehad en die skopwerk was besonders sleg. Hulle het dit aan hulle self gedoen.”
Jarryd Haupt: “Good ref. We need some work done on the break downs, and we need a bigger budget so we can start buying players that can kick.”
Read original story on www.sarugbymag.co.za
