Van Graan: We all take responsibility for defeat

Johannesburg – Assistant coach Johann van Graan says the Springbok team and management has taken full responsibility for their ‘unacceptable’ defeat to Japan and is ready to make amends.

Van Graan said the entire group had done some serious introspection but would now put the game behind them to focus their attention on the Samoa clash in Birmingham on Saturday.

“South Africa lost to Japan, it is unacceptable and definitely not good enough, and as a group we take full responsibility for it,” Van Graan said on Tuesday.

“There is only one group that can fix it, and that is us, so we can’t wait for the rest of the World Cup.”

The Springbok forwards coach said the team had to decide whether they would wallow in sorrow or dust themselves off and prepare for the rest of their World Cup campaign.

“We have two choices, we either sit in the corner feeling sorry for ourselves, or we stand up for what we believe in, and move forward and take on the Samoans only the South Africans can,” Van Graan said.

“We can’t wait for the rest of the week, the sun came up again and we appreciate all the support we have from South Africa.”

Van Graan said the team first needed to do self-examination and identify what they did wrong before moving on.

“One has to do some introspection, every player, every member of management, and look at what we did wrong as a team,” he said.

“We have to make adjustments on the training field and make sure we are physically and mentally prepared for Saturday’s physical challenge.”