SOUTH Africa coach Allister Coetzee believes the gap between the hemispheres has closed since last year’s Rugby World Cup, when the four semi-final spots were all taken by teams from the south. The Springboks lost to Ireland at home for the first time at Newlands on Saturday night, on a day when England beat Australia in Brisbane and Wales gave New Zealand, the world champions, a scare in Auckland.
Despite being down to 14 men for almost an hour after the dismissal of CJ Stander for a challenge on Patrick Lambie, Ireland won 26-20 thanks to tries from Conor Murray and Jared Payne and 16 points from the boot of Paddy Jackson. That ruined Coetzee's first match as head coach of his country in the first of three Tests between the two nations, and led to his acceptance that there has been a power shift in the eight months since the All Blacks, Australia, South Africa and Argentina reached the last four.
“What we have seen today is that the northern-hemisphere teams have actually caught up to the rest of the world,” said Coetzee, who succeeded Heyneke Meyer in April. “The Welsh were ahead against the All Blacks at half-time, England put up a brilliant performance to beat Australia, and the Irish beat us with 14 men.
“I don't think the squad is holding anything back about the World Cup defeats from last year. We know exactly where we went wrong and we will discuss it tactically on Monday.
"But on top of the poor performance, we still had opportunities to score. Francois Louw before half-time, JP Pietersen at the end, Faf de Klerk when he had an opportunity to get quick ball - it was kicked out of his hand. It’s not ideal, but now we know. It’s our first attempt, we’re learning, and we have to make sure we learn very quickly as a group and don’t see it as a failure.”
Ireland coach Joe Schmidt was more cautious than his opposite number when he was asked whether European teams could claim to be back on terms with their southern rivals. “I don't know if the tide is turning,” he said. “I think the tide . . . You can always get knocked over by a freak very, very quickly in this game.
“I watched the other games on Saturday morning. I thought England were good for their win. They were probably aided by 15 penalties conceded by Australia - that always helps a team get into the game and build continuity and rhythm going forward.
“Wales - to lead at half-time against the All Blacks is no mean feat. So I was delighted for Gats [Warren Gatland]. Eddie [Jones, the England coach], obviously, he'll be delighted with what they achieved today as well.”
True to his word about ensuring that his squad learned from their loss, Coetzee also said that he would not make sweeping changes to his starting line-up for the second Test in Johannesburg. Lambie is out after suffering a concussion, but the stand-off could yet feature in the third match after x-rays on his neck came up all clear following his collision with Stander.
“They are all disappointed and want an opportunity to fix it,” he said. “Therefore, players will get an opportunity to fix it next week. There’s no reason to panic: the only panic we have is that we've got to flipping get it right next week.”
Meanwhile, Australian back-row forward David Pocock will miss his team’s remaining two Tests against England after fracturing his eye socket in their 39-28 defeat in Brisbane. The 28-year-old is expected to be out of action for up to six weeks.
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