Ring-rusty South Africa will need to improve in all aspects of their game, but a test victory after a 20-month break was just what the world champion needed, coach Jacques Nienaber said after Friday’s 40-9 win over Georgia.
It was the first match for the Springboks since winning the World Cup in Japan in 2019 and new coach Nienaber felt his side got just the challenge they needed to shake off the cobwebs ahead of the British and Irish Lions series later this month.
“I have to compliment Georgia we knew of and expected their physicality, yet we had no real marker to know how well we would respond to that,” said Nienaber after the clash at Loftus Versfeld in Pretoria.
“They shocked us a bit in the opening half, but we now have a marker after this. The way we first responded was poor, our discipline was not good and credit to Georgia for putting us under that type of pressure. We improved in the second half and that was pleasing for me.”
He said he was grateful that they were able to arrange two warm-up tests against Georgia to better prepare for the Lions. “You can only practice against yourself so many times, but tonight the hits were real, and no one held back. We needed that and had to adapt and the way we did was pleasing.
“Next week, we have to improve in every aspect, but the performance was probably expected after 20 months away from test rugby,” Nienaber added.
Captain Siya Kolisi said South Africa made no effort to conceal any of their plans or tactics before the first of the three test series against the Lions in Cape Town on July 24.
“We are not holding anything back in order to hide something from the Lions. Georgia showed what they can bring, we had to respond, and it was a tough battle. We needed to respond to their challenge and not worry about the next team,” he said. The Boks will get a chance for further improvements in the second test against Georgia at Ellis Park, in Johannesburg, on Friday.
“We need to start better next week, enforce our game plan on them earlier and not leave so many scoring opportunities out there,” added Kolisi.
