The Springbok captain, Siya Kolisi, lauded the character of his team following their thrilling 31-27 win against the All Blacks in Johannesburg on Saturday during the third round of the Rugby Championship.

The Springboks fought back for their third-straight win in the competition to move up to 14 points, and eight ahead of their nearest competitors, the All Blacks.

With ten minutes remaining in the Test at Ellis Park the Springboks still trailed by 10 points, but late tries by Kwagga Smith and Grant Williams saw the world champions claim the win.

‘Whenever we are behind, we never panic’

Kolisi, who left the field and may miss Saturday's fixture in Cape Town due to a suspected fractured cheekbone, said they emphasise not panicking when they are under pressure. “Whenever we are behind, we never panic,” said Kolisi.

“We have been in far worse positions before and have come back. When they scored first in the second half we came together and we said ‘cool, amazing, they’ve scored an intercept try, let’s go to the next set’, nobody panicked.

“We have so many cool heads and leaders – if I’m not talking, Eben Etzebeth’s talking or if it’s not him, it’s Pieter-Steph du Toit, or even the young guys with just a couple of caps.

Grant Williams. Picture: SA Rugby

“They’re given the license by the coach to speak because rugby knowledge isn’t measured by the number of caps you have – if you see something, say it. And that’s the great thing about this team today, we never panicked.”

The Springbok coach, Rassie Erasmus, in turn, was thrilled that they remain the only unbeaten team. Now the focus changes to winning the Rugby Championship for the first time since 2019.

“This puts us in a good position in the Rugby Championship, but we don’t know what Australia and Argentina are going to do,” he said. “If Argentina wins both games it will make it interesting, so we’re under no illusion.

A nail-biter, but the Boks have done it ??#Springboks #ForeverGreenForeverGold #RSAvNZL pic.twitter.com/osGoEyGKMI

— Springboks (@Springboks) August 31, 2024

“Winning the Castle Lager Rugby Championship is very important, and I would love to win it, but we will move players around next week and hopefully they make it, but we won’t get ahead of ourselves.

“Everything didn’t go right today, and we’ll have a look at why we didn’t get out of our half at stages and why we didn’t capitalise on chances a few times. Our focus is only on next week.”

Meanwhile, over in La Plata, Argentina, the Wallabies claimed their first win by beating the Pumas 20-19.

This is the most I’ve ever seen a nation unite. ?? Just beautiful #Springboks #RSAvNZL pic.twitter.com/w6nr0BeXxc

— Darren (@SaffasRugby) August 31, 2024

Next Saturday (7/9) at 17:00, the Springboks will tackle the All Blacks at the Cape Town Stadium in Green Point.

Scorers:

Springboks: Tries - Bongi Mbonambi, Kwagga Smith, Grant Williams Conv. - Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu 2 Pen. - Feinberg-Mngomezulu 4

New Zealand: Tries - Codie Taylor, Caleb Clarke 2, Jordie Barrett Conv. - Damian McKenzie 2 Pen. - McKenzie

OFM Sport/Morgan Piek cg