Pollard defends Boks’ attitude after Wallaby defeat

The Springbok leadership duo of Siya Kolisi and Handre Pollard were happy for the players to take the blame for the Castle Lager Rugby Championship defeat against the Wallabies in Brisbane, but Pollard was adamant that it wasn’t attitude that let the team down.

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When a team misses 19 tackles on a night when they make 69 it is fair to ask if attitude is a problem. After all, coaches often point to tackle stats when they want to defend themselves from any suggestion there might be something wrong with the spirit in the camp. It is the commitment on defence, or so they say, that shows just how spirited and brought into the plan the players are.

Pollard, the vice-captain, however had a bit of an edge to his voice when he was questioned on whether perhaps that was where the Boks fell short at Suncorp Stadium.

“It definitely is not an attitude problem. If everyone misses one tackle that is 23 tackles missed. That is not good enough and it is not to our standard but it is not an attitude problem,” said Pollard.

“They (the Wallabies) had plans in place, as did we, and they executed their plan and we didn’t. It’s small margins in test rugby. Small margins can turn into a 30-17 loss. We just weren’t clinical enough tonight.”

Skipper Kolisi admitted that he was confounded by the high error rate, and said it was not something that came down to the coaching or the preparation of the team, but individual error.

“We are training well together but every guy is just making mistakes. We’d do one good thing, and then the next minute stuff it up by making a mistake,” said Kolisi.

“We couldn’t exit properly. We are normally good on defence, and we love that physicality. That’s the problem though. When you start losing and making mistakes in the thing that you are really good at it knocks you.”

The poor Bok performance at the breakdown, where they were frequently turned over and also smashed by the Wallabies’ counter-rucking, was an area that Kolisi felt the players should take responsibility for.

“We felt we were well prepped for it, but we as players just didn’t enforce the plan. Our preparation was good but we as players just didn’t get it together when the heat was on,” said the Bok captain.

“When we went on the field we had a plan and it didn’t work out and then we spoke about it at halftime and went out to redress it in the second and they came at us again and we just couldn’t handle it. We spoke about it at halftime and after the game as well. That is something we are going to need to think about.”

Coach Jacques Nienaber had earlier said that the Wallaby ferocity at the breakdown was something “we knew was coming, we prepped for it the whole week but they just overpowered us in that department.”

Nienaber had suggested it might have been a coaching error.

“Again, it probably starts with us. The way we prepped them and planned as coaches was perhaps not good enough,” said the Bok coach.

What definitely wasn’t good enough was the execution of the Bok attacking game. After a week of being criticised for lacking attacking variation, the South Africans were perhaps duped into playing a bit away from their usual template. They seemed almost too eager to try new variations, but their attempts to play wide were mostly impotent.

Pollard though felt it was the best attacking game the team has produced this year.

“It was our best attacking performance of the year in terms of finding space and getting the ball into space but we just weren’t clinical enough,” said the flyhalf. “We just lost the ball too often in contact, passes didn’t stick. Attack wise the plan was perfect but those last passes were just something we didn’t hold onto today and that was what let us down.”

Although the Wallabies were quickly hauled up early in the game when lock Matt Philip was penalised for obstructing Eben Etzebeth in the first Bok kick and chase, there were still some instances where the hosts appeared to get away with off the ball play that made it harder for the Boks. Pollard agreed that the Wallabies were street smart but felt the Boks needed to be able to deal with it without resorting to similar tactics themselves.

“They (Wallabies) are very street smart and the referees don’t see everything,” said Pollard. “We prepped the refs on what the Wallabies were doing last week but it is difficult to see a lot of the stuff that happens off the ball. The Wallabies are very good at it and they get away with it. We don’t coach it or train that way be we be able to handle it.”