Siya Kolisi proud of Springboks after ‘ugly’ semi-final win over England
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South Africa celebrate after beating England to progress to the Rugby World Cup final, in which they will be up against the All Blacks.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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PARIS – South Africa captain Siya Kolisi said that he was really proud of his team after they came from behind to beat England 16-15
Springbok coach Jacques Nienaber, meanwhile, paid tribute to the English, who defied their critics and the form book with a gutsy no-frills performance that came within a whisker of booking them a fifth appearance in a World Cup final.
“England were outstanding on the night, we had to dig deep,” he said.
“It could have gone either way.”
The defending champions were facing the exit as they trailed 15-6 after 69 minutes.
But R.G. Snyman crashed over for a short-range try and Handre Pollard converted before adding a 78th-minute penalty to give his side their second successive one-point win – last week they beat hosts France 29-28 in the quarter-finals.
“It’s honestly all the hard work we have put in which came off. It was really ugly but that is what champions are made of,” said Kolisi, who will now have the chance to lead his team to back-to-back World Cup titles.
“It was ugly today like it was last week, but we found a way to fight back and get back into the game.
“Well done to the boys. I am really proud of the fight that was showed.”
Nienaber said the Boks would need to study the way England pressured them in readiness for Saturday’s final at the same venue against the All Blacks.
“England had a good tactical plan, put us under pressure,” he admitted. “We will have to improve in terms of that if New Zealand use the same tactic. It took some time to get to grips with it.
“That is the strength of this team. Even if we don’t play well, we find a way to get a result.
“It took 70 minutes to get a foothold in the game. They just refused to give up, they fought to the end. I am very proud of that.”
Owen Farrell kicked four first-half penalties before landing a monster drop goal in the second half to give the English a nine-point lead.
But Kolisi said he had “no doubt at all” that Pollard would convert the 78th-minute penalty that gave South Africa the win, adding that “he has done it for us before”.
Pollard, who was not in the original squad for the World Cup, was delighted with his winning kick.
“It was a big moment but it is what you want as a player on this stage, to have moments like that as a fly-half is what you live for,” he said. “It was fun.”
England coach Steve Borthwick, meanwhile, hailed his team after their “disappointing” loss as they look ahead to the third-place play-off against Argentina at the Stade de France on Friday.
“The whole team performance was strong,” he said.
“We’re disappointed. We came here to win the game and we fell a bit short.
“They played their hearts out. It was an intense encounter, we’re disappointed we came out on the wrong side of it.”
Borthwick was full of praise for the Springboks, however, saying that “they are the world champions for a reason”.
“Immense credit to South Africa to come back and find a way to win. Great credit to them, they are the No. 1 side in the world,” he said.
“They found the way to gain the advantage around the scrum and that gave them the field position and the points.
“We’ll look forward to it (the third-place match against Argentina). We wanted to be in the final on Saturday, now we play Argentina on Friday and we’ll prepare thoroughly for it.” AFP, REUTERS
