Springbok coach Jacques Nienaber and captain Siya Kolisi rued their missed opportunities following their 19-16 defeat against Ireland at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin on Saturday.

Both sides went into the half time break locked at 6-6 but the Irish side claimed three penalty goals to South Africa’s two, which saw the host claim a narrow win in Dublin.

“One obviously wants to win every game you play, but the reality is that we played against Ireland away in front of a capacity crowd at the Aviva Stadium, and we lost by three points,” said Nienaber.

“We had opportunities that we didn’t capitalise on, but we’ll take the learnings from this match and fix that which we have to next week.

“The difference tonight was that Ireland used all the chances they created, and we didn’t. There were some good things and other areas that were not so good, and we’ll work on that as we prepare for the Test against France.

“I don’t think this result will have any significance on the Rugby World Cup. It was good preparation, and we learned a lot, but the result only makes a difference to the momentum a team can build.”

An equally disappointed Kolisi said: “Ireland were well prepared and they made plans with our momentum. They are a lethal team, and they took their opportunities, while we didn’t.

“They came hard at us in the collisions, and unfortunately, we were unable to get our maul going. That said, I thought our defence was good and we stuck to our guns in that department.”

Photo by SARugby Official website