Nothing is better than when the people of South Africa support us – Kolisi

Springboks captain Siya Kolisi once again heaped praise on his fans after a crowd of almost 60,000 at a sold-out Cape Town Stadium cheered them on to an 18-12 victory over the All Blacks in the Rugby Championship match on Saturday night.

This result puts the Boks on the verge of winning the Rugby Championship and also earned them the Freedom Cup for the first time since 2009 (for defeating the All Blacks on multiple occasions in the competition).

Kolisi also praised the determination of his team, who recorded their seventh win in eight games this season and continued to perform excellently in every match.

“Honestly, I’m going to sound like a broken record now, but we can’t ask for anything better than the way the people of South Africa support us. That’s how it was at Ellis Park and now here in Cape Town, where my career started,” said Kolisi.

“We have to give credit to the All Blacks, we knew they would come at us hard. We have been through a similar growth period and I have no doubt they will get through it. But it is a great honour for us to play against them and we thank coach Razor (Scott Robertson) and his team.

“(This season) has been about building on our previous achievements. In the past we have won one big game and then lost one. The Freedom Cup is something we have never achieved as a team, so it will be special as we celebrate 30 years of freedom this year.”

Breathtaking performance

Bok centre Damian de Allende put in an impressive performance in midfield, attack and defence and was deservedly named man of the match for his action-packed performance, admitting it was a real struggle to get the result.

“I’m a little lost for words at the moment. I haven’t really realized that we won yet. But it’s nice to see this trophy and know that we’ll be holding it in our hands tonight,” said De Allende.

“We lacked execution in the first half. I thought we had great chances in the 22-yard box but their flankers managed to steal a lot of balls in the first half. At halftime we talked about our urgency at the breakdown and we kind of got a handle on that but they still managed to steal a few more.

“In the end it was nice to get the game over the line. It was tough going into halftime because we felt like we had the upper hand but we were still behind on the scoreboard. So it was an incredible win and we’ll have a great celebration tonight.”

Both All Blacks coach Scott Robertson and captain Scott Barrett were disappointed with the result but proud of their teams’ fighting spirit in the game.

“I think we had chances there and if you don’t take them against a team as strong as the Springboks, you get punished,” admitted Barrett.

Robertson added: “I’m really proud, it was an incredible achievement. We had a few chances to win that. It’s tough, that’s Test football, that’s what South Africa have done well for a number of years, so I really want to congratulate them.”