The Springboks have a lot of opportunity for growth, according to coach Jacques Nienaber, after giving numerous players their first international outing of 2023 in a convincing 52-16 win over Wales in Cardiff.
One of them was captain Siya Kolisi, who was outstanding until being replaced at halftime in a pre-planned substitute after returning from a major knee injury sustained in April.
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Others who passed with flying colours included scrumhalf Jaco Hendrikse and prop Ox Nche, who will face New Zealand in their final warm-up match at Twickenham on Friday before facing Scotland in their first World Cup Pool B match on September 10 in Marseille.
“We have to get better going to France,” Nienaber said. “We are on a side of the draw that is knockout rugby from game one. We have to be on form just to get out of our pool.
“We are trying to give everyone match minutes and I was really pleased for the three guys today. But we have to get more cohesion before we play Scotland.”
Exceptional work by Pieter-Steph du Toit as Kriel scores his second in Cardiff 🔥
📺 Stream the Boks live: https://t.co/bDeiretgWP pic.twitter.com/LaRkfzh7Aa
— SuperSport Rugby (@SSRugby) August 19, 2023
The Springboks scored eight tries in a strong performance in which they dominated the set-piece and suffocated Wales with their rush defence. Yet, Nienaber was dissatisfied with their discipline.
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“Giving away controllable penalties is the stuff we need to sort out. In certain things we were clinical, at the scrums we got some penalties, but we struggled under the high ball and had to find solutions to handle that.”
He isn’t overjoyed by the scoreline against a depleted Wales, but he concedes the world champion Boks have only scored one goal in France.
