Nienaber refuses to blame Springbok defeat on goalkicking woes: 'We're working on it'

Keep on practicing.

That was Springbok coach Jacques Nienaber's simple message to his goalkickers after he steadfastly refused to blame Damian Willemse and Cheslin Kolbe's inconsistent efforts off the tee in Saturday night's tense 16-19 loss to Ireland in Dublin.

There had been reservations about South Africa's decision not to go into the match with a specialist sharpshooter - both Handre Pollard and Elton Jantjies are unavailable for the tour - and those detractors will derive little satisfaction from being proved correct.

Willemse notably launched a penalty attempt so skew that some quipped it was a cross-kick, while one of Kolbe's conversions hit the post and another went wide.

Regardless of whether the game was lost in other areas, the reality remains that those seven botched points cost the Boks a victory.

It's true that Irish pivot Johnny Sexton also had a difficult night, but, as Nienaber pointed out, he still nailed the attempts that mattered, like his long-range penalty in the 74th minute to put the hosts out of reach.    

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"Most people who look back on this game will probably say it was the difference between the two sides. Jonny missed a kick or two too, but he nailed the big ones," said the Bok head coach.

"We missed a couple and that's definitely something we'll keep working on."

Reluctant to speculate on whether the travails off the tee could mean an unexpected debut for Manie Libbok against France next week, Nienaber instead suggested Willemse and Co must put in the hard yards at training.

"We're working on it. We and the players measure their goalkicking, so they know at what percentage they're kicking at during the