De Allende: 'We deserved more'
REACTION: Springbok centre Damian de Allende said his team’s narrow 17-19 defeat to the All Blacks in Townsville on Saturday was “heartbreaking”.
It was South Africa’s third defeat in a row in the Rugby Championship, which handed the title to the All Blacks.
The Boks will have to put the disappointment of this latest defeat quickly behind them as they will face the All Blacks again in the final round.
De Allende feels that his team were a bit unlucky not to come away with the four points in their first meeting on Saturday.
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“I thought we controlled the tempo quite well,” said De Allende. “That last penalty that they got was a brilliant kick [by Jordie Barrett].
“We got ourselves into the game nicely. It is heartbreaking because we felt like we just deserved a bit more, but that is just part of the game.
“Against the British and Irish Lions we got that last penalty at the scrum. Against Australia, it went against us and it went against us again in this game.”
The Bok centre believes it was a much-improved performance from his team after back-to-back defeats to Australia.
“It was much better than last week and the week before,” he added.
“I felt our defence was pretty solid and we were quite dominant in our hits.
“We got our details right [in training] this week and I think that helped us a lot in today’s [Saturday’s] game.
“They [All Blacks] were very good on their set-piece attack. They moved the ball really well and we adjusted well to that.
“I think we scrambled really well.”
