Steyn's magic turned the weather into a Bok win

Standing out in the rain before the game, Springbok coach Jacques Nienaber and his outside backs were contemplating the test against Wales in driving rain and terrible conditions when Frans Steyn offered some encouraging words.

Those words would go a long way for the Springboks to break their hoodoo as Steyn claimed the man of the match award at the age of 34 after coming on as a replacement for Damian Willemse in the first half.

The Springboks won in Cardiff for the first time since 2013 and it took a mammoth effort which was capped by a maul try to Malcolm Marx and a late Elton Jantjies penalty to give them a 23-18 win, but the foundation was laid in the rain before the game by Steyn’s inspirational words, revealed after the game by Nienaber.

“When you have a guy like Frans who has played 73 tests and we’re standing in the rain outside and contemplating the game, and he says to the outside backs: this is special,” Nienaber said after the game.

“He told them he has been here before and in these conditions, this is how you play, this is how you catch the ball. He shared a bunch of technical aspects because he has been here before, made the mistakes and knows how to play.

“It is a positive experience with a guy like Frans who has a wealth of information and he isn’t scared to dish it out. He is an unbelievable team man.”

Nienaber finished with captain Siya Kolisi chiming in: “and he is a lekker ou.”

Steyn’s performance, in igniting the backline when it mattered, kicking a 54-metre penalty goal and giving the performance of a player a decade younger turned the tide for the Boks in a tough game that Nienaber was relieved to get past.

“We’re glad to break the hoodoo, we knew it would be a grind and we got what we thought we would get,” Nienaber said after the game.

“This is a tough place to win, our record shows it, and we won for the first time in six years and a lot of that goes to the work done by the players and management in the week, we needed to do something different because what we did in 2018 didn’t work for us.”

Nienaber conceded the Boks discipline cost them momentum in the first half when they were heavily penalised at the breakdown.

“It was overeagerness, we had opportunities but we were not accurate, we went beyond the ball and didn’t show enough daylight. Our discipline was poor, but we did better in the second half. Considering these are the same conditions we will play in at the World Cup in 2023, we did well.”

Damian Willemse is unlikely to face Scotland after leaving the field with a concussion, while there may be more niggles when the team head to Edinburgh after their win in Cardiff.