Bok game plan worked - Nienaber

Springbok coach Jacques Nienaber was adamant the Bok game plan worked, despite a heartbreaking narrow loss to the All Blacks in the 100th test between the two sides.

Jordie Barrett’s 78th-minute penalty clinched it for the All Blacks, who succumbed to the pressure but came through when it mattered the most between the two sides to take the win, and in the process the Castle Lager Rugby Championship title and entrench themselves as the No 1 side in the world.

The Boks were far better than they were in the two tests against Australia but will be kicking themselves as they had done enough to win.

“The game plan worked, we had opportunities and they had opportunities. It came down to the wire and a call here and a bounce of the ball there went for them and sometimes it goes for you. It’s swings and roundabouts,” Nienaber said after the game.

But the Bok coach did admit they were hurting because they felt they had done enough to win the game.

“The effort was excellent, we deserved a victory and we have been in with a shout in all the test matches. When it is No 1 and two in the world playing it is always close and this was a magnificent effort by the players to put ourselves in the position,” he added

“We are hurting inside and we feel we could have pulled the result off today. We won the British and Irish Lions series with a late kick and Australia beat us in the first game with a late kick. Sometimes it comes down to the wire.”

Nienaber added that the team believed the entire week while being written off just about everywhere that they could win.

“We had the belief, there was not a player, not a person in the squad who didn’t believe we could beat the All Blacks. There wasn’t a speck of doubt in our mind. We knew it would be a grind, and it was always going to be like that.”

Asked if the 78th-minute kick in the 22 was the right option, Nienaber added that he trusted his players to make the right decisions and if it was done over again, he wouldn’t have sent different instructions onto the field.

But for all the positive play, the one negative remained the scoreboard, and it meant the Boks have now lost three in a row, and their Rugby Championship title.

And that will hurt a lot more.