Springboks refuse to blame officials or goal-kicking woes

Ireland showed composure under pressure and took advantage of some unforced errors by the visitors to beat the Springboks 19-16 (half-time 6-6) in a hard-fought Test match at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin on Saturday evening.

Yet, certain refereeing decisions were once again hotly debated as the home team certainly seemed to get the rub of the green on some occasions, with questionable passes picked up by fans – but not the officials – in the lead-up to two Ireland tries.

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“I’ll never blame the ref,” Springbok captain Siya Kolisi said post-match. “Both tries were checked [by the TMO] and then there’s nothing else you can do. I thought he was fair and Ireland played very well.”

These sentiments were echoed by coach Jacques Nienaber, who also said the team would continue to work on improving their goal-kicking, which proved costly on Saturday.

“We’re working on it. We and the players measure their goalkicking, so they know at what percentage they’re kicking at during the week. It’s tough, in some instances a miss is actually a kick that hits the posts. It is what it is. None of the goalkickers go out there to miss a goal.

“Johnny (Sexton) didn’t try to miss his first conversion, for example, but the key is he nailed the big ones and we didn’t. I’ll never blame a player for that. They must just keep working on it, which they are.”  

*Let us know in the comments how you rated the referee Nika Amashukeli and his assistants

You can also check out this video below which provided a detailed and largely critical view:

As a result of Saturday’s defeat, the Boks have slipped to fourth in the World Rugby rankings.

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SPRINGBOKS WILL NEXT FACE FRANCE

It was Ireland’s seventh win over the reigning world champion Springboks in the last 11 Tests dating back to 2004.

It was a difficult Test for South Africa’s goal-kickers with Damian Willemse enduring an off-night and Cheslin Kolbe faring little better.

Ireland extended their lead atop the World Rugby standings by 0.60 points, while the Springboks lost an equal number of points and dropped to fourth.

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The Springboks will next be in action against France in Marseille next Saturday, 12 November.

Kick-off is at 22:00 (SA time).

ALSO READ | NOVEMBER TEST WRAP: EVERY RESULT AND FIXTURE

SCORERS:

Ireland

Tries: Josh van der Flier, Mack Hansen

Penalties: Johnny Sexton (3)

South Africa

Tries: Franco Mostert, Kurt-Lee Arendse

Penalties: Damian Willemse, Cheslin Kolbe

TEAMS:

Ireland

15 Hugo Keenan, 14 Robert Baloucoune, 13 Garry Ringrose, 12 Stuart McCloskey, 11 Mack Hansen, 10 Johnny Sexton (captain), 9 Conor Murray, 8 Caelan Doris, 7 Josh van der Flier, 6 Peter O’Mahony, 5 James Ryan, 4 Tadhg Beirne, 3 Tadhg Furlong, 2 Dan Sheehan, 1 Andrew Porter

Substitutes: 16 Rob Herring, 17 Cian Healy, 18 Finlay Bealham, 19 Kieran Treadwell, 20 Jack Conan, 21 Jamison Gibson-Park, 22 Joey Carbery, 23 Jimmy O’Brien

South Africa

15 Cheslin Kolbe, 14 Kurt-Lee Arendse, 13 Jesse Kriel, 12 Damian de Allende, 11 Makazole Mapimpi, 10 Damian Willemse, 9 Jaden Hendrikse, 8 Jasper Wiese, 7 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 6 Siya Kolisi (captain), 5 Lood de Jager, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 3 Frans Malherbe, 2 Malcolm Marx, 1 Steven Kitshoff

Substitutes: 16 Bongi Mbonambi, 17 Ox Nche, 18 Vincent Koch, 19 Franco Mostert, 20 Deon Fourie, 21 Kwagga Smith, 22 Faf de Klerk, 23 Willie le Roux