Siya Kolisi: Ireland deserved their victory

DEJECTED: South Africa's Siya Kolisi dejected after the game. Pic: INPHO/Dan Sheridan

South Africa captain Siya Kolisi praised Ireland’s maul and scrum dominance after the world champions lost 19-16 in Dublin on Saturday night.

Ireland claimed a statement win in front of a sell-out Aviva Stadium crowd and by outsmarting the Springboks in two of their strongest facets of play gained a psychological edge over the 2019 World Cup winners less than 11 months out from their pool meeting in Paris at France 2023.

Both Kolisi and head coach Jacques Nienaber gave credit where credit was due after Ireland had struck with two tries in the 10 minutes after half-time and then a withstood a late comeback when tries from Franco Mostert and Kurt-Lee Arendse produced a nail-biting finish, with a late penalty from Irish captain Johnny Sexton ultimately proving the difference.

Ireland had scored through a lineout maul grounded by man of the match Josh van der Flier on 45 minutes and then with a sweeping attacking move from right wing to left finished by wing Mack Hansen while stopping the Springboks counter through their strongsuits at the set-piece and maul.

“I thought Ireland played really well and they deserved the victory today,” Kolisi said.

“Our maul was stopped from the word go and then obviously our scrums can be much better. We normally dominate in those instances and I thought Ireland were really good. They came prepared, they knew our maul was one of our key things and they made plans to stop that.

“In the Rugby Championship we created so many opportunities and we didn’t take them and the same thing happened today. When you play against a team like this with so little, they had two opportunities and scored a try in both of them.” 

Former Munster defence coach Nienaber said Ireland showcased a different side of their game to what he felt was normally appreciated most as they confirmed the world number one status they had earned with a historic series victory in New Zealand during the summer.

“In the build-up to this week we spoke about everybody looking at Ireland’s attack but they’re probably the team that after us they maul the most and they score a lot of maul tries,” Nienaber said.

“They scored two tries against New Zealand, they scored against France, they scored against us. So they’ve got a powerful maul although people don’t necessarily realise that. It’s almost like they disguise it very well.

“So in terms of that they were good there and scrum-wise we couldn’t get dominance there. Hats off to them. They full on fully deserved this one.”