Hansen: Boks deserved it
All Black coach Steve Hansen suffered his first defeat against the Springboks, but admitted that the hosts deserved the win at Ellis Park.
A late long-range penalty from replacement flyhalf Pat Lambie saw South Africa clinch a dramatic 27-25 victory to end the Rugby Championship on a high.
Hansen described the encounter as “a great game of rugby that could maybe have gone either way” but went on to add that “my heart tells me that the Boks probably deserved it today.”.
Hansen had previously only once spoken at a post-match conference as a losing coach, in December 2012 after the surprise 38-21 loss to England at Twickenham.
He recognised the fact that the Springboks managed a great start to the game (leading 21-13 at halftime) but also applauded his charges in the way that they came back into the game.
“They showed a lot of composure and heart,” said Hansen when describing the second half comeback.
Captain Richie McCaw, who had surpassed the All Black appearance record previously held by the legendary Colin Meads for 43 years during the Ellis Park Test, was left bitterly disappointed with the defeat.
Speaking after his 134th appearance for the World Champions (133 tests and a 2009 match against the Barbarians at Twickenham) McCaw said he was “hugely proud of the achievement and the highlight leading up to the match had been an email from Sir Colin.
“Whether it is the first or 134th test it remains special to pull the Black jersey on," he added.
McCaw said that the defeat will make the All Blacks even tougher opponents in the future.
"We got ourselves back in the game and gave ourselves a chance, but ultimately couldn’t get the win.
“We coughed the ball up a fair few times and that meant we couldn’t play rugby.
“We aim to get better, win or lose. Sometimes a loss just adds a bit of steel to the guys’ effort going forward," he said.
Hansen mentioned the set-piece struggles in the first half as a reason for the All Blacks' inability to put the Springboks under pressure.
“In the second half we held on to it (the ball) and kept composure and built pressure. And then it came down to a penalty from 55 metres”.
Speaking about the crucial penalty, which was the result of a Liam Messam shoulder charge on Schalk Burger, Hansen said he had no problem with “Barnsey” (referee Wayne Barnes) awarding the penalty.
Possibly alluding to the fact that tackle looked worse that it was he said that there was no malicious intent from Messam.
"The guy (Burger) was tackled and fell into it, there was no intention in it,” he said.
When quizzed about the performance of Malakai Fekitoa, who was playing against the Boks for the first time, he said that “Fekitoa has the ability to become a good, if not great All Black.”
On the injury front Hansen said that lock Jeremy Thrush took a knock to the head and that “TKB (replacement scrumhalf Tawera Kerr-Barlow) had looked to have done his ACL and had gone for scans."
By Dorfling Terblanche
