'Good, but nowhere near the finished product'

"Good, but nowhere near the finished product."

That was Springbok coach Jacques Nienaber’s assessment of his side's massive win over the All Blacks at the Mbombela Stadium on Saturday.

The 26-10 win was the second biggest win over the All Blacks ever, but Nienaber knows that a backlash can come at Ellis Park next week and will be pressing his charges to do better.

“We did all we could do, they did all I asked of them,” Nienaber said afterwards.

“I wanted them to pitch with intensity and execute our game plan and that we did well.

“I don’t think we are the finished product yet, but we improved in a lot of areas and we saw growth from the test series against Wales. We want to win every game and at the same time keep improving on the goals we set ourselves.”

Nienaber also had a lot of good things to say about Malcolm Marx, who put in a man-of-the-match performance in his milestone 50th test match

“Malcolm was outstanding but that is Malcolm,” Nienaber said with a smile.

“We spoke in the week about 'who is Malcolm?' He is the guy who amplifies what a Springbok should be. He is a warrior, a guy who did the hard work to change from loose forward to hooker. He had to work hard to get where he has and I’ve worked with him since under-20, so it is phenomenal to see what he has become.

“It may have been a milestone game but he never made it about him. Hopefully it will prepare him for the road going forward.”

Good work

While Nienaber had no news on the head injuries to Faf de Klerk and Kurt-Lee Arendse - both of whom will have to follow the Head Injury Assessment protocol before the Boks know when they will be able to return - he did say that Arendse was “excellent”

“He will play a lot of test matches in future,” Nienaber quipped.

And Jaden Hendrikse, who was thrust into the spotlight a minute into the game “stepped up well” and received high praise from Nienaber.

Captain Siya Kolisi said the team’s kicking game worked well and praised his team’s discipline.

“We stuck to the plan, which was the biggest thing. We made sure we were in the right position for contestable kicks because we know how many game breakers they have and we were disciplined enough. We saw in that second half when they did get a breakthrough the way the boys reacted. Our discipline was excellent and we stuck to what we did.”

Kolisi said while many will have a go at the All Blacks, who are at a low ebb at the moment, they still gave the Boks an incredible test match.

“We were tired, they moved the game around quickly. We know they have dangerous guys in their team, but we planned for it and had the intensity today. We know they attack well, but our scramble defence in particular was good today.”

Kolisi also had special words for the crowd.

“I know we feel good now, and we know the job isn’t done. We have five more games in the Rugby Championship, but to run on in front of a crowd like that - I don’t know how South Africans do it with everything going on. They fill up the stadium and support us and that means the world to us, running out and hearing the fans scream in support.”

The teams will face each other again next Saturday at Ellis Park.