REACTION: Boks beat All Blacks

Here’s what the coaches and players of the Springboks and All Blacks have been saying after South Africa’s historic victory on Saturday.

Click HERE to download the Post Match Comments by both sides (Allblacks.com)

Peter De Villiers

“I’ve got nothing to prove. If I believe in myself, if I believe in my players, if I believe in my god … I don’t need people around me.

“Everybody has got an opinion and we respect their opinions but it doesn’t mean we agree with their opinion. If we can stand up like we did today as a group, people will change their own opinions.

“I always believed in all the players … and they started believing in themselves.

“They are the world champions and they knew they had to go out and lift their game and they did.

“Last week we played backwards, today we mostly had the ball on the front foot. It makes it so much easier for a scrumhalf to play from that.”

John Smit

“I am particularly pleased for Peter, Dick and Gary. I know how much effort they put in and it was special in how the players reacted to the pressure.

“We came so close three years ago and this time they will feel they came close. It was a long overdue win for the Boks in New Zealand, but it is pleasing because it shows how the Boks can kick on after the World Cup.

“Peter has shown faith in the core of those World Cup players and in Dunedin they showed him they can be part of a new chapter in South African rugby.

“The World Cup is over and the priority now has to be to win the Tri Nations and to maintain a standard that ensures we stay at the top of the pile. I know it is possible because the hunger is there in the squad.

“I knew we were good enough to win in Wellington and we were awful on the day. I knew we could never play as badly on two successive weekends. It was great to watch, although my nerves were shot at the end.

“It is definitely easier being on the field where you have some form of control than being in your lounge room going ballistic. It was a special day for South African rugby.”

CJ van der Linde

“The meeting with the ref made a lot of difference. The All Blacks were walking around in the scrum a lot last week, so we brought that to the referee’s attention and it happened a lot less today. And we also had plans to counter it.”

Victor Matfield

“The guys showed a lot of character, we took a lot of planning into this game and it paid off.

“We were very disappointed with our performance last weekend and we knew we had to work on a lot of things.”

Graham Henry

“There was only one team talking this week and they were trying to make sure they were talking themselves up and they played very well.

“We would have wanted to have batted out time well, but it didn’t quite happen. We made a defensive error around the ruck and Ricky Januaruie took advantage of that.

“We tried to get in position to pull it out of the fire over the last minute or two, but a dropped goal 45m out is a pretty big ask for anybody, even someone of Dan Carter’s status.

“I think the guys have the right recipe, it’s just difficult putting that into action at times.

“I thought (the All Blacks) played some superb football in that second half, probably good enough to win it nine times out of 10.

“We had a lot of inexperienced guys out there who gave their guts. I’ve got a huge amount of respect for what they did. They’ll grow from that experience.

“We had one lock playing his first test match as a starter, another guy came on after 20 minutes to play his first test match, and they were playing the two most experienced locks in the world.

“I thought they did very well. The lineout obviously needs a bit of attention. But they’re the best combination in world rugby in the middle row, so it was a big learning curve for guys who haven’t played any test match football.”

Mils Muliaina

“We probably didn’t recycle ball as effectively as we should have. A couple of times we turned ball over or got free kicks against us because we were just too slow getting back and helping out.

“A couple of times things were on, but we sent one or two too few to the breakdown and weren’t able to recycle that ball. That’s where we really need to be on to it. They have got a lot of guys that attack ball at the ruck and we probably weren’t as effective as we should have been.

“They kicked a lot more than what they did (last week) and their kicks were a lot more effective than what they did last week. It was a lot harder. You certainly saw the intensity out there. We came back well but just didn’t close out the last few minutes when a bit of Ricky Januarie magic was the difference.

“It’s probably fair to say a lot of guys are still learning a little bit. There’s just a bit of inexperience. There was a little bit of disruption with Ali going off. (Kevin O’Neill) wasn’t even in the squad a few weeks ago and now he comes on and plays his first test match like that. That’s a tough thing to ask for.

“Even though we lost and a couple of things didn’t go too well, I felt the two locks were right there and will be creating some good depth for the future.”

Steve Hansen

“A lot of people have talked about the Tri-Nations being the same old boring stuff. But you’ve got the three best sides in the world playing in this tournament, it’s tight footy, and there’s not much between us.”

Wayne Smith

“It was a massive effort we put in in that second half and we kept going right to the end.

“Rugby’s like that sometimes – you can’t quite hold on. They made a brilliant play right at the end, an individual play and came out with the spoils.

“But you couldn’t ask any more from young fellows in terms of effort, heart and trying to play the game.

“But that’s test match rugby. You’ve got young men under intense pressure. I think they fronted and played pretty well. Someone’s got to win.

“You’d like to be able shut them down, but they got a couple of bounces, scrambled ball away, and all of a sudden you’re under a bit of pressure, and the halfback made a dummy that was a really good play.

“We got caught in places with that pick and go and we were always struggling. You’re not going to make yardage against them in there. We probably lost our chance to take the droppie a wee bit earlier.

“We didn’t have a great first half but in the second half I was really proud of them. I thought we implemented what we wanted, had a real crack at them, and we could have won it.

“You don’t do what they did last year as a fluke. They’re a good team, and we never have an easy match against them, World Cup holders or not. It’s always competitive. We should have lost down here in ’05, but we got the win with three minutes to go. Today they did it.

“I think the backline played well. There were a few linebreaks. Ma’a made about three, Mils made about three, and Rudi Wulf made about three. They performed well, hit the right areas, and created some problems. We’ll look at the tape and make some better assessments but my casual eye on the backs was that they performed well and had a real crack at them.”