Siya Kolisi delivers blunt verdict on Springboks’ overall performance against Georgia
Although the Springboks secured a 55-10 victory against Georgia at the Mbombela Stadium in Nelspruit on Saturday, they were far from satisfied with their overall performance.
That was the word from the world champions’ captain, Siya Kolisi, after they battled to get going during the first half of the match. After leading 22-10 at half-time, they eventually took control of proceedings after the break and powered past their opponents.
It was Kolisi’s first Test of the season after he missed their previous three matches – a non-cap exhibition match against the Barbarians and back-to-back Tests with Italy – due to injury.
He admitted that the Lelos frustrated them during the opening half, but the Boks came back strongly after the interval and eventually took control of proceedings.
‘Physically they matched us most of the time’
“It was a tough game, credit to the Georgians, they came hard in the first half,” said Kolisi. “Physically they matched us most of the time, and we struggled at the breakdown. They were quite dominant there.
“So we were happy with the way we cleaned up in the second half.
“The problem was we weren’t able to produce enough positives one after the other. We did something good and then we would make a mistake, so that slowed down our momentum.
“The game was also a bit slow, and was very stop-start. But hopefully we can fix our problems and make sure that we build on our positives going forward.”
Boks head coach Rassie Erasmus made several changes to his match day squad after sealing a 45-0 victory over Italy in Gqeberha last week and they had several inexperienced players in their starting line-up against Georgia.
Amongst those were a trio of front-rowers in Boan Venter (loosehead prop), Neethling Fouche (tighthead prop) and Marnus van der Merwe, who were all making their Test debuts.
Van der Merwe scored two tries and Venter also crossed the whitewash, while all three impressed the execution of their core duties.
Meanwhile, other inexperienced players like Edwill van der Merwe (right wing) and Cobus Wiese (number eight) also produced solid performances with the former rewarded with a brace of tries for the second successive match.
Rookies keeping senior Springboks on their toes
Kolisi was delighted for the rookies in the team and revealed that the competition for places is keeping the Boks’ senior players on their toes.
“I am happy for them [the debutants]. Congratulations to them and their families,” he said.
The coach is building squad depth while we are winning, and you can see the amount of competition in the group. The guys (who played) last week set the standard.
In the first half here we didn’t live up to that standard and had to pick it up in the second half.
“So competition is tight and everyone who gets an opportunity has got to take it. But that’s what keeps the squad fresh and on their toes.”
