Springbok captain Siya Kolisi has praised his teammates’ grit and determination as South Africa reached their second consecutive Rugby World Cup final.
The Boks edged England by 16 points to 15 in a nail-biting semi-final clash in Paris, France, on Saturday night.
The defending champions will take on New Zealand in the final at Stade de France next weekend.
Kolisi says he is proud of his team’s efforts in securing the vital win.
“The thing that I take out of this game is the fact that we were able to dig deep and fight to get that victory, and we are so grateful that we can be in a position to defend the cup again. I know a lot of teams wouldn’t be able to get out of that and get a win like that.”
“So, it doesn’t matter how ugly it is or how ugly it is to watch the game. If we get a victory, they not going to say that it was an ugly victory, it’s going to say South Africa won and that’s all we take for next week, and that’s all we needed,” explains Kolisi.
The Springboks will waste no time in shifting their focus to the Rugby World Cup final against New Zealand in Paris next Saturday.
Bok wing Cheslin Kolbe says matches against the All Blacks are steeped in history and remain special occasions.
“New Zealand-South Africa, it’s a great history. Whenever the two teams meet we know that it’s going to be a massive physical battle and one that’s been there for years. But for us, it’s just to focus on ourselves.”
“To be quite honest now and make sure that we prepare as well as we can, we recover from tonight and shift our focus early on New Zealand for next week,” adds Kolbe.
Both South Africa and the All Blacks are the only two teams to have already won the World Cup three times.-Reporting by Liezl Olivier
