Springboks: Jacques Nienaber praises his players for second-half comeback

Springboks coach Jacques Nienaber is happy with his team’s second-half comeback to claim a 32-29 win over Wales at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday.

Wales started the game well and dominated the World Champions in the opening half leading 18-3 at the break after a brilliant performance. However, the Springboks had no answer for a well-executed Welsh game plan in the first 40.

However, the South Africans found their rhythm with the help of the notorious ‘bomb squad’, making an impact from the bench and a penalty from Damian Willemse after the hooter sealed the game. Nienaber said he would prefer to look at the second half of the game.

“I’d much rather focus on the second half,” Nienaber said. “The second-half was pretty much the performance we were looking for.

“Things didn’t go well for us in the first half; we didn’t start well. We started with intensity and a good attitude, but our execution let us down and we’ll have to work on that.”

The Springboks scored 29 points in the second half showing special character that Nienaber praised after the game.

“We came back from 18-3 and I said to the guys afterwards that they never gave up,” Nienaber said.

“To score 29 points in the second half was great. They stayed calm and composed and got the job done.”

Springboks captain Siya Kolisi commended his teammates’ composure and trust their systems to pull the game back.

“There wasn’t any panic. At no point did we think that we weren’t going to come back into the game.

“We know what we are capable of and stuck to it. We went maul after maul. We wanted it to work at the beginning and it didn’t, but in the end it got us through.”

Nienaber singled out the Springboks’ kicking game as a major issue in the game and something they will focus