A blundering Springbok side shot themselves in the foot by squandering opportunities when they slumped to a 33-16 defeat against the All Blacks in Johannesburg on Saturday, skipper Pieter-Steph du Toit said.
The loss has left the Boks needing to mount a determined rearguard action if they want to bounce back and emerge winners in the four-Test Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry (RGR) series.
Bok coach Rassie Erasmus has named a revamped team for Cape Town compared with the one that lined up against the All Blacks in Johannesburg last week.
Handre Pollard and Cobus Reinach will start as the halfback pairing, and Ethan Hooker takes over from Cheslin Kolbe on the wing, after he picked up a niggle in the first Test.
“All credit to New Zealand, they were just better than us at Ellis Park,” Du Toit said.
“We made some mistakes, and we weren’t able to convert the opportunities we had, so unfortunately we shot ourselves in the foot.
“In a game like this, it’s those small errors and small opportunities you get that count.
“We’ll definitely have to go back to the drawing board and see what we did well and what we can do better,” he said.
New Zealand coach Dave Rennie says he is expecting a big backlash from the Boks in the second Test.
“There was nothing in that opening game,” he said.
“I know the score might sound convincing, but it was an absolute arm wrestle at 19-16.
“We were under the pump and the boys barred up.
“New Zealand defended and defended, and then we were clinical when we got our opportunities.
“I am really proud of a massive effort.
“It’s a great result for us, but we are wary of the response we’ll get in Cape Town.
“We were under the pump a fair bit, down on the penalty count, and we gave away some not-smart penalties.
“That was frustrating that we kept giving them into the 22, but South Africa are the best in the world.
“They score five-and-a-half points every entry, and at Ellis Park I think it was 0.9, whereas we were 3.7.
“That’s a big stat. We were able to convert when we got down there, and they weren’t able to.
“Assistant coach Tana Umaga and his defence group have done a great job — a lot of guys working hard for each other.
“I think the line breaks were similar in the stats and the defenders beaten.
“We might have been slightly in front, but a couple of times when they could have hurt us, we managed to get people back and create a turnover.
“Look, you’re doing well to keep South Africa to one try, and it was a big defensive effort.”
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