We never panicked, says Kolisi

Springbok captain Siya Kolisi praised the composure of his teammates for a remarkable come-from-behind Castle Lager Rugby Championship victory over New Zealand at Emirates Airline Park on Saturday.

The Boks trailed by 10 points with as many minutes remaining before tries from replacements Kwagga Smith (loose forward) and Grant Williams (scrumhalf) turned the game on its head as 60 000 saw the Boks run out 31-27 winners (half-time 11-12).

The All Blacks scored four tries to three (the Boks’ other from hooker Bongi Mbonambi) in a match in which the home team held the lead for a total of only nine minutes.

“Whenever we are behind, we never panic,” said Kolisi, who left the field for a head injury assessment and with a suspected fractured cheekbone.

“We have been in far worse positions before and have come back. When they scored first in the second half (to put New Zealand 19-11 ahead) we came together and we said ‘cool, amazing, they’ve scored an intercept try, let’s go to the next set.’ Nobody panicked.

“We have so many cool heads and leaders; if I’m not talking, Eben’s talking or if it’s not him it’s Pieter-Steph or even the young guys with just a couple of caps.

“They’re given the license by the coach to speak because rugby knowledge isn’t measured by the number of caps you have – if you see something, say it. And that’s the great thing about this team today: we never panicked.”

Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus was relieved to come away with a victory and praised the players’ grit against a New Zealand team that controlled the game for long periods.

“I think the guys did really well to pull off a victory against a New Zealand team that played really well and dominated the whole game,” said Erasmus.

“Our boys had a few opportunities but for long spells we were out of the game. They dominated for long periods, but the guys stayed focused and came through.

“At one point they were three tries up and looking like getting five points and our focus was on stopping them getting the bonus point. New Zealand would have been deserving if they had won.”

Erasmus also praised the contribution of Aphelele Fassi and Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu – as well as Ben-Jason Dixon and Ruan Nortje – who started the game with 18 caps between them.

“We wanted to see how the newer players could handle the occasion and the pressure and Aphelele Fassi came through with flying colours,” said Erasmus.

“Sacha came through as well – but that’s not to say that Handre (Pollard) is out of it or that Manie (Libbok) is out of it. We’re going to keep on building the squad.

“To play New Zealand is big; to beat New Zealand and is big and for players to step up against Tier One nations like Ireland and against an amazing New Zealand team is really good for our long-term plans.”

The result means the Springboks remain the only undefeated team in the competition after three rounds, but Erasmus was not looking beyond next week’s return Test against the All Blacks at DHL Stadium in Cape Town.

“This puts us in a good position in the Rugby Championship, but we don’t know what Australia and Argentina are going to do,” he said. “If Argentina win both games it will make it interesting, so we’re under no illusions.

“Winning the Castle Lager Rugby Championship is very important, and I would definitely love to win it, but we will definitely move players around next week and hopefully they make it, but we won’t get ahead of ourselves.

“Everything didn’t go right today, and we’ll have a look at why we didn’t get out of our half at stages and why we didn’t capitalise on chances a few times. Our focus is only on next week.”