The experienced midfielder will lead the national side against the Wallabies in Cape Town this weekend.
After a disastrous start to the Rugby Championship that saw the Springboks thumped 38-22 by the Wallabies at Ellis Park, stalwart centre Jesse Kriel said that the leaders in the team should have stood up, especially during a desperately poor second half.
The Boks had blitzed into a 22-0 lead after just 18 minutes, but were unable to capitalise on the great start as they took a 22-5 lead into the halftime break.
The second half was then an unmitigated disaster, as the Wallabies ran in a further five tries, and 38 unanswered points in total, to power to a hugely surprising bonus point win on the Highveld.
Kriel, who will captain the Boks in the absence of Siya Kolisi Kriel at the Cape Town Stadium this Saturday, in the second Test against the Wallabies, said that the more experienced players in the team, like himself, should have taken ownership of the game last Saturday.
‘Control to our game’
“I am one of most experienced players and maybe I could have handled things better, maybe I could have ensured we brought more control to our game. In that time, we should have played it differently and maybe as a leader in the team I should have ensured we did that,” said Kriel.
“It is never down to just the guys kicking the ball or not kicking it but the guys around them. I think it is easy now to put pressure on one guy, but leaders like myself should have come through there and got us doing what we needed to do at that point.
“It is never about one person but about the team and the leaders like myself need to put our hands up and make those calls during games. It is too late to do it after the game is finished.”
Energy loss
The loss of energy from the Boks in the second half, and the inability of the “bomb squad” to help pick them up, will be points of concern heading into the second Test in Cape Town, and they will need to sort that out.
“I can’t put my finger on why we were so flat (in the second half) and I will need to watch the game (to try work it out). But there were a few incidents that were big momentum changes and, as I have said, we could have controlled it better,” admitted Kriel.
“It felt like every turnover they got they ended up scoring from. Mistakes at this level end up being punished and you need to keep going for the full 80 minutes.
“But you have to give them credit for the way they turned our mistakes into tries. Australia were really good and no-one must take credit away from them. They were energetic and they had a great second half. It was one of the best second halves I have seen them play.”
