South Africa captain and flanker Siya Kolisi said not panicking was the key to a thrilling 31-27 Rugby Championship victory over New Zealand in Johannesburg on Saturday.
Trailing by 10 points with 12 minutes remaining, the reigning world champions scored tries through flanker Kwagga Smith and scrum-half Grant Williams to snatch victory.
A minute before Smith scored, New Zealand had been reduced to 14 men when prop Ofa Tu’ungafasi was yellow carded at Ellis Park.
“These are the scenarios we train for,” said two-time World Cup-winning skipper Kolisi, who was forced to retire in the second half after suffering concussion.
“Obviously we do not want to be in a situation where we are trailing entering the closing stages, but we have to be prepared for such cases.
“The key thing was not to panic, and we did what we wanted to do. Not panicking was the key to our victory.
“We never gave up, and drew from previous experiences because we have been behind before. That said, we still have a lot of work to do.
“The match was every bit as hard as we expected because we respect the All Blacks so much. When they need to turn up, they really do turn up.”
Official man of the match Pieter-Steph du Toit hailed a Springboks team in transition with several new faces introduced after the World Cup victory in Paris last October.
“We are trying to build character and there have been a lot of changes to the team,” said the Springbok flanker chosen to play at lock because of a second row injury crisis.
“The young guys are experiencing pressure and I do not think you get more pressure than this, so congratulations to them.”
New Zealand captain and lock Scott Barrett said “the Springboks showed that they are a class team and we were not quite good enough.
“We were good for 62 minutes, but there were two key moments after kick-offs when we could not get out of our half and they punished us.
“It was a huge effort and I’m proud of the boys, but it was not quite enough. We will regroup quickly. For a lot of the guys it was their first time here, and it is pretty intense.”
South Africa have 14 points and New Zealand six after three matches. Argentina, with four points, face pointless Australia in La Plata later on Saturday.
