{"id":333466,"date":"2023-09-24T03:20:19","date_gmt":"2023-09-24T03:20:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=333466"},"modified":"2023-09-24T05:01:40","modified_gmt":"2023-09-24T05:01:40","slug":"go-for-it-springboks-coach-defends-disastrous-kicking","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=333466","title":{"rendered":"'Go for it': Springboks coach defends disastrous kicking"},"content":{"rendered":"

Springboks<\/a> head coach Jacques Nienaber says four missed kicks weren't the sole source of South Africa's<\/a> loss to Ireland in their Pool B match.<\/p>\n

The 2019 Rugby World Cup winners fell to the world No.1 team, downed 13-8 in a thrilling contest that went down to the wire.<\/p>\n

With each team scoring one try apiece, conversions and penalty kicks proved to be the difference.<\/p>\n

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Ireland was offered very few opportunities at the posts, but what chances they did have they made sure to put away.<\/p>\n

\"South<\/p>\n

Johnny Sexton and Jack Crowley were fortunate in that their chances at goal were relatively close, whereas Manie Libbok and Faf de Klerk each had tough chances.<\/p>\n

Libboks slotted one of his two attempts while de Klerk missed all three.<\/p>\n

Speaking post-match, Neinaber said kicking wasn't the only sore point as the team gave away possession at key moments of the match when they could have scored.<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> \ufeff'It ain't over': Michael Cheika predicts Wallabies twist<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE: \ufeff<\/strong>Wallabies dealing with savage backlash at World Cup<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Why great rival refuses to slip boot into Eddie Jones<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Perhaps the most damning was at the death when a maul off the back of a line-out just five metres short of the try-line collapsed to give Ireland the penalty, and with it, ended the match.<\/p>\n

"Hats off to Ireland, they were better than us on the day. We missed a couple of points off the tee. I won't say that's the reason solely for not getting across the line," said Neinaber.<\/p>\n

\"South<\/p>\n

"In the first half alone we lost two balls close to the try line \u2013 probably a metre off the try line \u2013 and had another two opportunities later on, so that's four opportunities, and the opportunities we have to get points off the tee is probably the reason why, but I won't say it is only goal-kicking.\u00a0<\/p>\n

"I know you guys will probably say that, but there were other opportunities that we had, especially in that first half where we lost the ball underneath the poles. We had a great opportunity there and then at the back end of the game, the last maul, we had a great opportunity there.<\/p>\n

"Again, that's why I say hats off to Ireland. They were better than us on the night. No complaints in terms of their performance."<\/p>\n

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Neinaber said he had no issue with the team's decision to repeatedly go for goal.<\/p>\n

"In all teams \u2013 if your kicker is confident, then he can go for it," he explained.<\/p>\n

"The captain asks him 'Are you confident?' And he wants to take the kick at goal, he takes the kick at goal. It's as easy as that.\u00a0<\/p>\n

"If they are confident that they can nail it, they go for it. Faf was confident from the halfway line. He was kicking it good in the warm-up. He unfortunately hit the post."<\/p>\n

Much was said of South Africa's selection, opting for a 7-1 split of forwards and backs on the bench.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It worked to good effect against New Zealand but its impact was largely neutralised by Ireland.<\/p>\n

Ireland won nine turnovers to South Africa's meagre three.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/twitter.com\/StanSportRugby\/status\/1705688362089128440<\/a><\/p>\n

"I think that's one area where Ireland was exceptional tonight," said Nienaber of the breakdown.<\/p>\n

"That's probably one of the biggest reasons why we didn't get momentum we were overpowered at our attacking breakdown.\u00a0<\/p>\n

"That's the opportunities we lost to the try line, 100 per cent correct."<\/p>\n

Should South Africa win this year's Rugby World Cup, it'd be a case of history repeating.<\/p>\n

In 2019, they lost to New Zealand in the group stage and went on to win the tournament against all odds.<\/p>\n

In the history of the Rugby World Cup, South Africa remains the only team to lose a match in pool play and go on to win the Webb Ellis Cup.<\/p>\n

"In 2019, did you think that we could win the World Cup when we lost against New Zealand? Obviously, you have to," said Neinaber when asked if he thought they could win again in 2023.<\/p>\n

"We're in this competition to win it and everyone is in this competition to win it. Teams that lose a game in the pool stages must work hard to get out of the pool, so definitely, we can still win it.\u00a0<\/p>\n

"We played against the number one team in the world and we lost by five points. We had our opportunity in the 79th.<\/p>\n

"Hats off to Ireland, they were better than us on the night, and that's the bottom line, they were better than us on the night.\u00a0<\/p>\n

"That's the number one team in the world and we're the number two team in the world. The margin is very small and we will have to work harder at the stuff we weren't good at and if we can fix that and we always need a bit of luck, we can win the World Cup."<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Springboks head coach Jacques Nienaber says four missed kicks weren't the sole source of South Africa's loss to Ireland in their Pool B match. The […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":333471,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/333466"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=333466"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/333466\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":333474,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/333466\/revisions\/333474"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/333471"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=333466"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=333466"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=333466"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}