Boks eyeing All Black decider
The bonus point may have eluded South Africa, but both the Springboks coach and captain were happy that they still have a chance next week to claim the Rugby Championship.
Coach Heyneke Meyer and captain Jean de Villiers were "very pleased", following their convincing 28-8 win over the Wallabies at Newlands on Saturday night.
The Springboks scored three tries, but neither the coach nor captain dwelled on a fourth try that would have resulted in a bonus point win.
"We have beaten the Wallabies with a record margin for Newlands, a field where one don't score that many tries," Meyer said afterwards.
"We played some great rugby in that first 20 minutes.
"We realised their defence were hanging back, so we could attack with ball in hand.
"The two yellow cards then hampered us. [There were] some 50-50 decisions, but we are not going to argue those as the referee is always right," Meyer said.
De Villiers said they will now start to focus on what will be a tournament decider.
"Next week is a different ball game, against [the] No.1 ranked side in the world, sold-out with the crowd behind us," De Villiers said.
"What more can we ask?"
De Villiers feels that have ticked the boxes they wanted in this match.
"We wanted to put ourselves in a position where we can still win the championship. We did that.
"We wanted to improve in certain areas, we did that. We wanted to be in a position where we can challenge the No.1 ranked team in the world in front of a sold-out Ellis Park to win the Rugby Championship. We did that.
"We have now scored seven tries to one in the two test matches against Australia, which shows that we are doing something right on attack."
The two yellow cards and some sloppy line-out plays will get some attention in the wash-up after the match.
"We could not get our drives going, something we will be working on this week," Meyer said.
Meyer pointed to the fact that the Wallabies are a great counter-attacking side.
"You always have that in your mind, so careless attack is never an option. They can punish you from all over the field."
* It was the 50th test match appearances for Jannie du Plessis and Morné Steyn and Meyer was pleased for his two loyal players.
"I am very happy for them. They played well and deserve the honour as both have been stalwarts to the Springboks."
