Siya Kolisi hails coaches for giving Springboks ‘freedom’ in All Blacks’ drubbing
Springboks captain Siya Kolisi and an inset of head coach Siya Kolisi.
Siya Kolisi has hailed the Springboks’ coaching team after South Africa’s historic victory over New Zealand in Wellington.
The Boks handed the All Blacks their heaviest-ever defeat in the round four Rugby Championship fixture, scoring six tries en route to a 43-10 win.
Rassie Erasmus and his backroom staff made two changes to the starting pack that was defeated by New Zealand at Eden Park, but made sweeping alterations to the backline.
That meant that the starting backs boasted just 173 caps, with Cheslin Kolbe, Cobus Reinach and Damian Willemse making up much of that tally.
Belief in youth
The ploy to back youth and believe in the rookies paid off as South Africa not only remained in the running to defend their Rugby Championship title but returned to the top of the World Rugby rankings, a position they surrendered in defeat to the Wallabies in round one.
Speaking to the media after the match, Springboks captain Kolisi sang the coaches’ praises for not only trusting the youth but encouraging them to not be afraid to chance their arm.
“What made our coaches so good this week was the freedom they allowed us today,” he said.
“The freedom they gave our backs, they told them to ‘shoot their shots, don’t be afraid to make a mistake’. There were a couple of times where the ball went out or it was a knock on where we had like an overlap, but no one panicked. We just stuck to our guns.
World Rugby rankings: The impact of the Springboks’ historic thrashing of All Blacks
“They gave us that kind of freedom because this was a big game, whether we liked it or not, and coach Rassie was willing to back the guys who hadn’t played a lot. He showed us the belief, and then he just told us we must just keep on believing in each other as a team, and I think that was really important.”
For the first time ever, South Africa have retained the Freedom Cup, which they took off New Zealand last year, with their focus shifting to defending the Rugby Championship trophy.
They will face Argentina in Durban in a fortnight’s time before they conclude the tournament against the same opposition at the Allianz Stadium, Twickenham.
Looking ahead to the final two rounds of the tournament, Erasmus added: “We are in the mix for the Rugby Championship and now Australia and New Zealand must sort each other while we take on an energetic, well-drilled Argentina outfit in the next few weeks.”
