Boks tick big All Black box
Springbok coach Heyneke Meyer was a satisfied man after his side 'ticked the box' of beating the All Blacks at Ellis Park.
The dramatic late victory was Meyer's first win against the All Blacks and gave a good indication to the rude state of health that the Springboks find themselves in.
Meyer admitted that there was a sense of relief at finally getting over the line against New Zealand.
“We always believed we could beat them, but we had to go out and do it. It feels good to have ticked that box,” he said.
Meyer referred to the fact that with the World Cup only a year away it was unexpected for so many players to be involved with the Boks for the first time.
“We had guys like Handré Pollard, Cornal (Hendricks), Cobus (Reinach) and Oupa (Mohoje) out there today and they did very well, considering it is their first year of test rugby,” he said. “They will make it very hard for me to pick a final 30.”
When quizzed about Mohoje, who was only starting his second Test, Meyer said that he was “happy for Oupa. He played well and we needed that. He was great on defence and he stole a vital ball for us. He was awesome in the line-outs.”
Meyer described Mohoje's all-round game as 'really, really brilliant' and this was backed up with quite impressive statistics.
Six tackles, four carries and three line-out takes in 51 minutes meant that Mohoje made a positive contribution nearly every four minutes, which is quite industrious for a player starting his first Test (at altitude) against the All Blacks.
Captain Jean de Villiers described the last couple of matches as colossal and also that the two teams bring out the best out of each other.
“The brand of rugby we play is also great when we meet. We respect each other and it makes rugby special,” he said.
He reinforced the belief that the Boks always knew that they were going to beat their arch-rivals.
“We said all year that we are a good enough team to beat the number one side in the world. We did that. We have to look at where we can improve," he added.
With the last win over the visitors having been in 2011 it was quite important for the Boks to remind the All Blacks that they will be a tough beat in a likely semifinal encounter at the World Cup.
“Now the November tour looms in conditions similar to the World Cup next year,” said skipper De Villiers when asked about the Boks upcoming fixtures against Ireland, England, Italy and Wales.
Meyer said that he will push his players to raise their fitness in the coming week and also thanked the Unions for agreeing that the Boks will not play in the Currie Cup.
By Dorfling Terblanche
