Siya Kolisi issues gut-wrenching apology to Springboks fans

Springboks captain Siya Kolisi has apologised to supporters after his side’s shock 38-22 defeat to the Wallabies at Ellis Park.

He branded the performance as “unacceptable”.

South Africa led 22-0 inside the opening quarter but collapsed as Australia mounted a historic comeback. Joe Schmidt’s side secured their first win at the venue since 1963 and snapping a 14-year drought on SA soil.

Kolisi fronted up afterwards, conceding the Springboks had only themselves to blame.

“We let ourselves down today,” Kolisi told SuperSport immediately after the final whistle. “The things we worked on – discipline, the breakdown – they definitely won the breakdown battles. We didn’t put them under enough pressure. We let ourselves down a lot and we have to take that on the chin. It’s unacceptable the way we performed.

“You can’t start like that, then take your foot off the pedal. That’s just unacceptable from us.

“It was the errors, but also the breakdown. We’d fight, get into the 22, and then they’d steal the ball. It’s something we knew they would do, because they’ve been good at it. We just didn’t look after the ball well enough.”

Kolisi was making his first Test start at No.8 but delivered a strong individual performance and the Boks were still leading when he left the field, only for momentum to swing dramatically in Australia’s favour.

“They played really well. Credit to the Australian team – they kept on fighting, they never gave up even though we started well and went ahead. So well done to them. But from us, you can see from the boys we’re not proud of the performance we put out today.

“We’re not going to drop our heads. We’ll go again next week and fight. Whoever gets the opportunity to play, we’re going to take it. There’s not much else we can do now but fight.”

The loss leaves South Africa with no competition points from their Rugby Championship opener, while Australia pocketed a maximum haul after running in six tries to three.

“Thank you to everybody who supported us. Sorry about the performance, but we’ll come again next week.”