Publications
Partners
Cape Town - Captain, Eben Etzebeth, has praised the Springbok coaching staff after his team went down 25-24 to New Zealand in a thrilling Rugby Championship encounter at Newlands on Saturday.
CLICK: To support South Africa's Rugby World Cup 2023 bid
The Boks scored a converted try in the 77th minute through hooker Malcolm Marx to trail the world champions by just one point but ran out of time in their attempt to gain revenge for their 57-0 thrashing in Albany in September.
Etzebeth thanked the Springbok coaches, stressing that they had helped put the Boks in a position to win against their greatest rivals.
"Thanks must go to the coaches, who put us in a great position to win the test match," said Etzebeth in a press conference after the match.
"Unfortunately, we did not and came up two points short of the result we wanted.'
Etzebeth was particularly happy with the momentum the Boks produced at times as well as their ability to cross the gainline and make metres on attack.
"We wanted some go-forward today and the guys are happy that we achieved that," Etzebeth said.
The Springboks need to wait for the final encounter of the Rugby Championship between Argentina and Australia to see if they hold onto second position on the log.
