Siya Kolisi believes the Springboks will need to be more accurate and disciplined in the Test against Argentina in Mendoza, reports JON CARDINELLI.
The Boks scored six tries in their 34-21 bonus-point win over Argentina in Durban on Saturday. The result sees them sitting in second place on the Rugby Championship table, and on a par with the All Blacks as far as log points are concerned.
That said, both the coach and captain are well aware of the challenge that awaits them in Argentina and Australasia over the next four weeks. The Boks have scored a bonus-point win in Argentina on only one occasion since the inception of the Rugby Championship. They haven’t won in Australia since 2013, and in New Zealand since 2009.
What’s more, the South African teams combined for 20 defeats in 22 overseas matches in the 2018 Super Rugby tournament. That record included four straight losses in Argentina.
In the wake of the recent win at Kings Park, Kolisi lamented the inaccuracies and bouts of poor discipline that saw the hosts trailing 14-10 at half-time.
The Boks shifted gear in the second stanza and emerged comfortable winners, but the captain feels that they would do well to heed those first-half lessons ahead of a difficult assignment in Mendoza.
‘We spoke during the week about starting well [at Kings Park], and then we didn’t deliver,’ Kolisi said. ‘The intensity was a real positive, but I felt that our execution and discipline let us down in the initial stages.’
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The Boks tried to lift the tempo, while the Pumas, as Rassie Erasmus pointed out, tried to slow the game down. It will be interesting to see if the Boks change tactics for the visit to Argentina, and whether there are changes to the starting back row of Francois Louw, Kolisi and Warren Whiteley.
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Erasmus has reiterated that Handré Pollard is the Boks’ first-choice flyhalf. However, after Pollard missed five of his seven attempts on goal in Durban, Erasmus would do well to include a specialist goal-kicker on the bench in Mendoza.
While Elton Jantjies has had his problems in general play, he remains one of the country’s most accurate goal-kickers. Faf de Klerk and Damian Willemse were the only other goal-kickers in the match-day squad at Kings Park.
Photo: Gordon Arons/Gallo Images
