Ox Nche on where the Springboks went so badly wrong

One of the more experienced Springboks in the current squad, Ox Nche, has admitted that South Africa only have themselves to blame after letting a 22-point lead slip in their Rugby Championship defeat to the Wallabies at Ellis Park.

The Boks flew into a commanding advantage in the opening quarter but were completely overrun thereafter, conceding six tries to three as Australia stunned the home crowd with a comeback victory.

Reflecting on what went wrong, Nche said the Springboks had only stuck to their blueprint for 40 minutes before losing their way after halftime.

“The first half we played very well, we played like we planned. In the second half, we tried too many different things. We were our own worst enemies,” he said.

“We didn’t actually execute our plan. I think that was the main problem. We didn’t get our processes. Even when we were winning, we were quite hard on ourselves for the mere fact that we just couldn’t tick our boxes. In this game, we ticked them in the first half, and then in the second half, we absolutely went off script. At halftime, the chat was simply to stick to the plan and execute things, as it was working. But we just went off the script in the second half.

“They scored three easy tries early on, and it wasn’t from a good set piece. They were just more active and ready, and they pounced ahead.”

The loosehead prop stressed that South Africa must now view every remaining fixture in the Rugby Championship as must-win territory.

“If we want to win the Rugby Championship, we have to win every single game. We have to build confidence… so next week is a must-win and we have to get as many points as we can get. They just seemed more prepared than we were, and they used every opportunity they got, whereas we didn’t. Everyone just started going off on their own plan instead of sticking to the plan we had as a team.

“For me personally, it means more hard work, more preparation. Whatever you did last week, do more of it… We’ve played against them and know how it felt. The only thing we can do is just execute every single thing better.”