VIDEO - Siya on critics: 'They can keep talking'

SPOTLIGHT: Springbok captain Siya Kolisi cannot understand why certain individuals are still questioning his team’s tactics.

The 33-year-old was speaking to media on Friday ahead of the Springboks’ second Test against the Irish at Kings Park on Saturday.

The Boks won the first Test 27-20 in Pretoria last weekend and after the match, there was some finger-pointing at their bench tactics again.

It came from former Scotland coach Matt Williams, who is known critic of the ‘Bomb Squad’.

Williams believes it is a major safety concern.

Erasmus replaced his entire tight five and Kolisi in the 50th minute at Loftus Versfeld, which helped pave the way for victory last weekend.

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“It [criticism] happens so much that we don’t really care,” said the double World Cup-winning captain.

“Why should we care?

“There is a rule book and none of the stuff that we do breaks any of the rules.

“We do what works for us. You will never hear us commenting about other people’s tactics because the focus is on us – what works for us and what gets this team going.

“We don’t know why people always have something to say about what we do, but we never say anything about them.

“It’s fine with us, they can keep talking. We will just keep focussing on what we do and if it doesn’t work then we can change it.

“We don’t sit and dwell on it.”

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Kolisi believes opposing teams should take it as a compliment when the Boks use their famed ‘Bomb Squad’.

“I honestly believe that they should see it that way because we are seeing where they are strong and we want to attack that.

“We make plans on who we play.

“It’s not about having less backs or anything like that. It is just about what the team needs on a specific day and the way we want to play on the day.

“It is a compliment to whoever we are playing against.”

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Springbok assistant coach Mzwandile Stick agreed with his captain’s sentiments.

“I don’t think there is anything wrong with it and it’s in the spirit of the game,” said Stick.

“People in South Africa enjoy watching our Bomb Squad coming in and if it works for us, we are not going to change it.

“If we decide to go to seven-one we will go to seven-one.

“There is going to be a time when we go back to our normal five-three split.”

Stick added: “When it comes to the spirit of the game, look at us South Africans. That’s how we play the game.

“There is a good respect between the two teams.

“I don’t want outside noise to get in between the spirit of the game.

“That’s one thing I respect about how we operate, and we’ve got massive respect for the Irish team.”

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