Bok loss: 'It was not through a lack of effort'
South Africa must work on improving their execution, rather than exertion, when they face Australia in a return match in the Rugby Championship in Sydney on Saturday.
Springbok loose forward Albertus Smith and centre Lukhanyo Am both said the 17-25 loss to the Wallabies in Adelaide this past weekend was the result of poor execution on behalf of the players.
The Boks believe they were still in the running to win the competition, despite sitting in last place after three rounds.
They are determined to right the listing ship when the two teams go head-to-head in Round Four.
The Springboks – after back-to-back losses to the All Blacks and Wallabies – will be under pressure to bounce back strongly in their last three games of the competition.
The Boks face the Wallabies in Sydney this coming Saturday and will then will meet Argentina – who beat the All Blacks in Christchurch this past weekend – in their last two Rugby Championship clashes in Buenos Aires and Durban respectively.
“I don’t think we can fault the effort,” Smith said, when quizzed about the loss in Adelaide.
“We had opportunities to score points, but we need to be more effective at rounding them off.
“Australia, in turn, had opportunities and they used them and got points easily.
“It is now a case of going back to basics and ensuring that we are ready for the next game in seven days.
“We are definitely still in the competition,” added Smith.
“All four teams can still win, and it is tough to say who is going to win because there are a still a few games to play.
“The big thing for us will be us to stop their [Australia’s] momentum next week because they got good momentum this past Saturday.
“We’ll have to work hard to bounce back next week.”
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Am also looked forward to Saturday’s re-match with keen anticipation.
“It is hard coming here [to Australia] and getting results,” the Bok midfielder said.
“However, we’ll make our plans for next week and try to turn things around. Hopefully, the result will be better next week.
“It was quite a frustrating game for us, we just couldn’t get going,” Am added.
“One of the massive work-ons this week will be the way we start the game, because we also didn’t get a good start against New Zealand.
“We can’t fault the effort, especially since we created a lot of opportunities. The Wallabies, however, did well to kill the ball at source.”
Am did not shy away from the fact that handling errors had a role to play in the result, but he said the team have proven to be effective in that area of play before.
“We have showed multiple times that when we have opportunities we can use them,” said Am.
“Sometimes, however, it doesn’t stick, and Saturday was one of those days.
“That said, they did well to put us under pressure on defence.”
The Boks departed for Sydney on Sunday and will return to the training field on Monday to begin their preparations for their vital clash next Saturday.
