Bok coach Nienaber after win against Argentina: ‘I’m unbelievably proud of the squad of players’

The portents appeared gloomy after the Springboks' defeat in the opening Test of the series against the British & Irish Lions last month but four Tests on coach Jacques Nienaber is on cloud nine.

His team completed a second consecutive Rugby Championship win over Argentina at Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium on Saturday which served to further lift the mood in the Bok ranks.

Though they had threatened to, the Springboks could not fully impose their will in their 29-10 victory, but Nienaber will not be overly perturbed his team didn't hit their straps.

“I’m unbelievably proud of the squad of players,” said Nienaber. “This was a massive Test match for us; not bigger than a World Cup or a British & Irish Lions series match, but it was huge for us internally.”

The Boks would have come off a tremendous psychological high after their series win over the Lions and to restore those levels of commitment, passion and application for their Tests against Los Pumas would have required huge self-discipline.

Nienaber reflected on a testing period in which the Boks went into a demanding sequence of matches without the benefit of proper preparation.

“If you take the perspective of the SA A match against the Lions and then three Test matches against them and then two really tough Tests against Argentina, it was six Test matches in a row and at the end of it I can just say well done to the guys.

“The players deserve all the credit; it’s them sacrificing themselves for their country and their team. I’m massively privileged to work with people like that,” said the coach who no doubt is hugely relieved his initial period in charge went off with only the occasional hiccup.

On Saturday his team got the upper hand over Argentina upfront and looked poised to pummel the tourists before losing momentum as the match wore on.

“We stuck to our game plan and we built on the scoreboard,” said captain Siya Kolisi about their battle plan which, infuriatingly for some, largely revolved around kicking the ball into the moonlit sky.

“I wished we could have capitalised on the opportunities we created,” said Kolisi. “But we made mistakes in line-outs and they defended well; they were a very different team to the one we played last week.”

While the Boks were able to absorb the early injury to prop Trevor Nyakane by deploying Steven Kitshoff, substitute scrumhalf Jaden Hendrickse's departure left them scrambling at times.

In the end they could not add to the tries scored by Makazole Mapimpi and Malcolm Marx which would have handed them a bonus point. In fact, they conceded a try, only their third of the year, in the last play of the game.

“We weren’t disappointed to concede the try,” said Nienaber, who is a defence devotee.

“Maybe 10 years ago I wouldn’t have said that, but we were going for the bonus-point try and we told the guys to go for the big defensive reads and take chances.

“If we had got the bonus-point try it would have been worth it. We were in a position where we could go for it, so it wasn’t a risk.”

Having played two matches along with Argentina, SA top the Rugby Championship standings with the All Blacks and Australia in second and third place respectively.