Springboks coach Jacques Nienaber believes his team are heading in the right direction, even if they are not yet reaching the peaks they managed at the 2019 Rugby World Cup.
After a difficult Rugby Championship, South Africa showed their resilience with a courageous 31-29 victory over the All Blacks onSaturday night.
It ended a run of three straight defeats in the tournament, and was the perfect response to their tough loss last week, when New Zealand snatched victory in the centenary test via Jordie Barrett's 78th minute penalty.
South Africa lost their captain Siya Kolisi in the 56th minute to a head knock, then seemed to lose momentum in the final quarter, at one stage conceding five penalties without reply in a 13-minute spell.
But they never gave up and got their reward with Elton Jantjies' penalty in added time, to seal one of their most important wins since they were crowned world champions in Japan two years ago.
"It's been a tough four weeks," said Nienaber. "We lost momentum in not securing victories in the first three games and in fairness, that's the margins when No 1, 2 and 3 in the world play against each other.
"I don't think we are at the level that we were in 2019 yet, due to the fact that we haven't played a lot in 2020. We are not where we want to be but this momentum will help, building forward hopefully."
Saturday's win felt like a statement performance, and showed why they remain New Zealand's greatest rivals.
After the All Blacks had managed a clutch play last week – with Quinn Tupaea securing a breakdown turnover to win a penalty for Barrett's kick – South Africa's late composure on the Gold Coast was remarkable.
New Zealand were 20 seconds away from victory, and only had to secure possession, but No 8 Duane Vermeulen won a penalty, after an unlikely breakdown turnover.
From there it was copybook. Francois Steyn's long punt took the ball deep into All Blacks territory, before several powerful phases put New Zealand under pressure and forced the resultant offside penalty.
"This week we were fortunate that we got an opportunity at the end of the game to win it," said Nienaber. "Last week New Zealand had that opportunity and in the first test match against Australia they got it with [no] minutes on the clock. That's how small the margins are.
"When number one two and three play each other, it's that tight and it was unbelievable. That is why it is good for us to play these games; good exposure for our guys, getting used to big games, when you are going to play in a World Cup quarter final, semifinal, final, this will be the pressure that you are under."
Analysis of the Springboks' one-dimensional game plan had dominated the build-up to this test, but South Africa employed more variety on Saturday. There were still moments where they were too conservative, with Willie Le Roux twice kicking for position in the first half, when he had teammates in promising positions outside him.
But generally they asked more questions of the All Blacks, moving away from the narrow strategy employed in Townsville.
Eben Etzebeth of the Springbok is tackled during The Rugby Championship match between the South Africa Springboks and New Zealand. Photo / Photosport.co.nz
"I said it last week - you can only play what they present you," said Nienaber. "If they present you with 14 in the front line and one guy at the back, the space is not in the front line, the space is at the back.
"[On Saturday] there was a little bit more opportunity. They dropped back more players to cover the backfield which gave us the opportunity, [so] there is more space to keep the ball in hand.
"The key thing is that if you see space, you must attack it. It might be through a passing game, a running game [or] a kicking game. We are trying to find the balance and I don't think we are there yet.
"[But] we were a little bit better. There were opportunities last week, to run it out of our own half or our own 22 on turnovers where they just sent players back and we didn't utilise that, but that is the learnings you get through losing games."
