Bok coach Nienaber: 'There was no other option but to beat Wales'

Springbok coach Jacques said they had no option but to deliver after SA secured a 30-14 victory over Wales at the Cape Town Stadium on Saturday to clinch the series 2-1.

The series was sitting delicately on 1-1 and defeat could have seen the Boks lose a series to Wales for the first time in SA and also spoil the occasion of the 100th Test appearance for Eben Etzebeth and the 50th for Bongi Mbonambi.

“I thought we controlled the game well in the second Test but due to lack of discipline and not using our opportunities things didn’t go our way. This was a final for us and we just had to deliver, there wasn’t an option of not delivering,” said Nienaber after the match.

It was not a polished performance as the Boks let Wales off the hook on numerous occasions from good scoring positions and Nienaber admitted they could have been more clinical.

“I still think there is a lot for us to work on. I thought we created a lot of opportunities similar to last week which we didn’t capitalise on. Like I mentioned last week after the game, we selected the team because we thought we could beat Wales [with it],” the coach said.

“It was not a polished performance, I think there’s a lot to build still. I thought the set pieces functioned well but still there were a couple of hiccups there. At scrum time we’re still getting used to the brake-foot thing, we will get better at that. We will have to build a lot still in terms of where we are.”

“It was awesome and Cape Town came out like they always do. We had a specific plan. Things didn’t always go according to plan but winning the series is obviously one of the big things we were trying to achieve and luckily it worked for us.

“We had a long conversation after last week that we have to learn when we are in control of the scoreboard and if there is 20 minutes left, how do we think and get aligned in what we’re going to do?

“I think this week we were much more aligned and clinical in how to play when we had scoreboard pressure and the type of style we had to play to finish off the game, I thought it was a lot better than last week.”

Kolisi said the victory was due to maintaining composure and they were disciplined when it mattered the most.

“We knew they were going to get their moment in the game and it was all about how long we allowed that to be.

“They got the two penalties, and we came into a huddle and made a plan and we just focused on discipline because we didn’t think they would score. We kept our discipline and stuck to the plan and then everything started swinging our way.”

Kolisi added that the team knew what was expected of them.

“We had so much to play for as a team. A lot of people had a lot to say about us and we want people to have an opinion and criticise the team because we know they care. So, we treated this as a final.”

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