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Jacques Nienaber: 'We can win the World Cup'

By PA
South Africa v Ireland – Rugby World Cup 2023 – Pool B – Stade de France

Andy Farrell hailed the mental strength of his players after Ireland propelled themselves to the cusp of the Rugby World Cup quarter-finals with a statement 13-8 success over South Africa.

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The world’s top-ranked team took control of Pool B by edging an epic contest on a raucous Paris evening thanks to Mack Hansen’s try plus five points from Johnny Sexton and a late Jack Crowley penalty.

Reigning champions South Africa dominated the second half at Stade de France but Ireland doggedly held on to stretch their winning run to 16 matches and move within touching distance of the knockout stages.

Asked what pleased him most about the performance, head coach Farrell said: “Our resilience, which has been really good of late anyway.

“That was a proper game, a traditional game, it had absolutely everything, there were ebbs and flows, ups and downs and how we stayed on point mentally was fantastic.

“The game was never going to be perfect.

“First half, I thought we had the rub of the green as far as field positions is concerned and probably didn’t capitalise on that. Certainly it was roles reversed in the second half.

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“But we kept our heads. Getting those couple of penalties at the end when it really mattered is the big plus side of our performance.”

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Cheslin Kolbe’s second-half try and a Manie Libbok penalty kept the Springboks in contention before they fell agonisingly short in a nail-biting finale.

Jacques Nienaber’s side ultimately paid the price for a series of wayward kicks at goal, with Faf de Klerk missing two penalties and Libbok squandering a further effort, in addition to the conversion attempt after Kolbe’s score.

Ireland, who were vocally backed by an estimated 30,000 fans in the French capital, also survived a series of frustrating line-out losses.

“I think as the competition goes on, we’ll need to be better because, you know, there’s a few inaccuracies,” continued Farrell.

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“But there’s always going to be that type of thing with games like this, especially with the pressure that South Africa put on you.

“We again were able to find a way and when you say it was an emotional game and how do we bottle that, we’ve gotten very good at not getting too emotional, making sure that we stay on task.

“So being given a game like that within the pool stage is great for us.”

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Ireland have a fortnight’s break before finishing the group against Scotland and emerged from a bruising encounter relatively unscathed in terms of injuries.

South Africa head coach Nienaber conceded his side were second best but insists they can still retain the World Cup.

The Springboks, who recovered from losing to New Zealand in their opening match at the 2019 tournament to claim the title, take on Tonga next weekend.

Nienaber said: “Yeah, we can still (win the tournament). Obviously you have to (believe). We’re in this competition to win it.

“Teams that lose a game in the pool stages must work hard to get out of the pool, so definitely we can still win it.

“We played against the number one team in the world and we lost by five points and we had opportunity in the 79th minute to get a result.

“Hats off to Ireland, they were better than us on the night and that is the bottom line

“But that’s the number one team in the world and the margin is very small.

“We will have to work harder at the stuff that we weren’t good at. If we can fix that and we have a little bit of luck, we can win the World Cup.

“We missed a couple of points off the tee. I won’t say that was the reason solely for not getting over the line.”

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Comments

39 Comments
N
NE 627 days ago

The type of bloke that owns and schools fools like you. English is clearly not your thing. Don't use words that you don't know the meaning of. Capisce?

P
PaPaRumple 627 days ago

Hahaha what self respecting adult uses the words owning and schooling. Your a funny guy Nigel.

N
NE 627 days ago

Was fun owning and schooling you. Typical saffa, running away when shown up as a fool.

P
PaPaRumple 628 days ago

I'm bored of you now bye.

N
NE 628 days ago

Seems you live in some parallel universe where there is no differentiation between facts and opinions.

P
PaPaRumple 628 days ago

Most would call it a fact.

N
NE 628 days ago

Another irrelevant, inane post. Well done.

R
Red and White Dynamight 629 days ago

Its very considerate of The Waterboy to let Nienaber answer the odd question. Especially after they've lost.

L
Lourens 629 days ago

I am sick to death of Rassie and Nienaber's bullshit. They chose a 7-1 split at Twickenham and played it correctly: they went for touch every time and put the ABs under tremendous pressure. They didn't go for 50+ meter kicks. The Irish lineout was absolutely woeful, and yet they couldn't see we needed to maul? They can both fuck off.

A
Ads 629 days ago

Boks absolutely bossed the line outs & were fantastic - kicking lost them the game. Nigel the Dunce.

N
NE 629 days ago

Would have been wiser for Nienaber to have rather kept quiet regarding final predictions. Not known for being the sharpest pencil in the box he forgets that France is next up, in Paris, which will be the end of them. In the very unlikely event that they get through that there's still Ireland or NZ to contend with both of which will beat SA.

M
Michael 629 days ago

Are you actually a rugby fan? Someone who enjoys the contest, recognises a great game played between two well matches opponents that played well, with little between them? Or are you just an armchair warrior who's ego is only validated if the team (by their effort, not yours) win every match, every time?

K
Karlo 629 days ago

Why must you look to be disparaging? He was responding to the question, "can SA still win the World Cup?".

r
robert sutadi 629 days ago

We beat them yesterday were it not for libbock so pipe down you miserable no good..

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