'We can still win World Cup,' insists beaten Boks coach Nienaber

After seeing side beaten by 'exceptional' Ireland in an instant classic, South Africa supremo refuses to pin blame on faulty goal-kicking

ROARING MATCH: South Africa head coach Jacques Nienaber during the 2023 Rugby World Cup Pool B match between South Africa and Ireland at Stade de France in Paris, France. Pic: Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile

Jacques Nienaber had no qualms with the result at Stade de France on Saturday night but the Springbok coach is adamant that the world champions can still retain their title.

The Bok boss described Ireland’s performance as “exceptional” and highlighted the Six Nations team’s effort at the breakdown as a key reason for the end result. His side, he admitted, was overpowered at their own attacking rucks and especially in losing the ball close to the Irish line.

He also addressed, again, his team’s goal kicking issues which saw Manie Libbok and Faf de Klerk miss four shots at the posts and leave 11 points behind them. Big misses in a game that finished 13-8.

“Obviously hats off to Ireland, they were better than us on the day. Yes we missed a couple of points off the tee but I won’t say that’s the reason solely for not getting over the line. In the first-half alone we lost two balls over the line, and another two in the second.

So those four… I know you guys will probably say that. But there were opportunities we had, especially in the first-half. And then again in the back end of the game.”

Nienaber was non-commital on whether they will now reintroduce the more dependable Handré Pollard at ten. His kicking at goal was crucial in winning this tournament in 2019.

“Like I said before, whoever won this game, it would take a little bit of pressure off going into the next round and that pressure is now on us," he added. 

“We have a big game now in eight days, Tonga, to get out of the pool. That’s the sole thing that we will focus on. We will look at the areas we feel did and didn’t go our way and take it from there.” 

This is not new territory for the Boks. They became the first side to win the World Cup after losing a pool game four years ago - the opener against the All Blacks - and Nienaber and captain Siya Kolisi both pointed to the lessons learned that day as reasons to keep believing now.

“Yeah, we can still [win it]. In 2019 did you think we could still win the World Cup when we lost to New Zealand? Obviously you have to," said the coach. “You are in this competition to win it and teams that lose a game in the pool stages must work hard to get out of them.

“We played against the number one team in the world and lost by five points. We had an opportunity in the 79th minute to win it and we didn’t. Hats off to Ireland, they were better that us on the night and that is the bottom line.

“But that’s the number one team and we are the number two so the margin is very small and we will have to work harder at the stuff we weren’t good at. If we can fix that and have a little bit of luck we can win the World Cup.”