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Durban - Springbok captain Jean de Villiers heavily criticised his side following Saturday’s unexpected 37-25 loss to Argentina here at Kings Park.
The Boks were never in the game, and De Villiers said afterwards that the result was a “low point” in his career.
“It’s just not good enough. There was no energy on the field and we conceded such easy tries,” the skipper said.
“The first one off a set phase, the second one off a set phase… just too easy. We had to work so hard for our tries and we conceded soft tries. That costs you games.”
The lack of energy that De Villiers spoke of was something that he could not explain, but he said it had to be addressed as a matter of urgency.
“The fact is just that all of us were down and lethargic, if I can call it that. We need to find the reason for that, and we need to find it quickly,” he said.
“Every time we lose it’s a tragedy and when we do it at home it’s even worse. I don’t think we could have prepared any better, but the fact that everybody was down… we need to find out why that was.”
Not even a return to international rugby for the first time in eight months after recovering from injury could lift De Villiers’ spirits.
“It’s very difficult to find any positives out of this game, to be honest. I’m past the stage of personal goals… for me it’s important what the team achieves and tonight we didn’t achieve anything,” he said.
The Boks have one more Test before the World Cup in September and October - a trip to Argentina this coming weekend.
