Springbok captain Corne Krige hinted that his team did not deserve to beat Argentina in the nail-biting rugby Test match played at the EPRFU Stadium in Port Elizabeth on Saturday.
South Africa had to rely on the diminutive Brent Russell to spark an unlikely 26-25 win when the pocket-dynamo sliced through the Argentinean defence with three minutes remaining.
”Maybe we didn’t deserve to win today, but victories like that build character,” admitted Krige at the post-match press conference.
”The players need to stand up and show passion. The guys were tired out there, but I’m positive we can make the step up,” he said.
Coach Rudolf Straeuli said he was not happy with the manner of the victory. ”All of us are disappointed and there is lots of hard work ahead, but I now have a clearer view of what needs to happen for the Tri-Nations.
”Some aspects of the forward play was good, while at times the backs showed they can do the job needed of them. It’s just a matter of getting them to combine effectively,” argued the coach.
Argentina were by far the better team on the day and it took a Louis Koen penalty with time elapsed at the end of the 80 minutes to pull the Boks out of the mire.
”I told Louis that if he doesn’t kick it, it would be okay, because it was the forwards fault that we hadn’t closed out the match,” said a battle-weary Krige.
”He just replied: ‘Don’t worry, I’ll kick it!”’ And Koen, who took his tally to 58 points in his last three Tests after contributing 16 points on Saturday, calmly slotted the winner from the touchline and maintained the Boks unbeaten record against the Pumas.
Both the coach and captain agreed that more aggression was needed after the Pumas pummelled the Boks into submission at the breakdown.
”We can be more aggressive at the rucks and mauls to clean out ball, but on the whole I’m happy with our discipline especially with their tactics of slowing down the ball,” said Krige.
Argentina captain Gonzalo Longo was magnanimous in defeat. ”South Africa are still one of the world superpowers and they showed that out there for more than 80 minutes.”
Coach Marcelo Loffreda did not share the same view of his captain: ”I’m unhappy we lost, but we played well man for man and it could have gone either way. I think we were better than South Africa today.” – Sapa