Jacques Nienaber refused to blame his goalkickers after the Springboks missed 11 points in the crucial World Cup pool loss to Ireland on Saturday night.
Ireland slotted two second-half penalties through captain Johnny Sexton and replacement Jack Crowley to claim a 13-8 victory in the brutal Test match in Paris.The Springboks had more than enough opportunities to seal the win, after taking an 8-7 lead through Cheslin Kolbe’s try, but flyhalf Manie Libbok and scrumhalf Faf de Klerk missed three penalties and a conversion between them.
“Hats off to Ireland, they were better than us on the day,”said Nienaber. “We missed a couple of points off the tee. I won’t say that’s the sole reason for not getting across the line. South Africa’s wayward kicking performance has seen calls for Handre Pollard to be handed the No 10 jersey in the final pool match against Tonga, after he was recalled to the squad as an injury replacement.
“We’ll have to discuss. Lots of things go in to team selection,” said Nienaber. “We will get the medical status after 24-48 hours and then we will go through our team selection process as normal.”In analysing the defeat, Nienaber said that Ireland caused the Boks issues at the breakdown.
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