Springboks need to be more clinical, says veteran centre Jesse Kriel

Springbok centre Jesse Kriel praised the All Blacks for the way they played to win the first Test at Ellis Park 33-16 on Saturday night, but he admitted South Africa needed to be sharper.

“They were unbelievably clinical. When we got down there into the 22m, we weren’t as clinical as we wanted to be, so we’ll take a lot of learnings from that.

“You’ve got to give credit to them for the way they played tonight [Saturday] and the pressure they put us under,” he said.

The Springboks dominated the match up front for the first 56 minutes, but they were unable to convert enough of that territorial advantage into points, a failing they would have to improve on for the second Test in Cape Town.

“[We must] just be more clinical when we have those advantages and try to get the ball away from the scrum — I think New Zealand made it hard for us to play that advantage.

“It’s definitely something we’ll look at; go have a look at the game tonight, go through it, work through it, and find solutions.

“I think the great thing about rugby and the series is that we’ve got another three chances, and it’s something that everyone’s really looking forward to and a challenge that everyone will be up for.”

Kriel said the All Blacks, under new coach Dave Rennie, had a different style of play that had made a difference.

“They obviously have got a bit of the new DNA and how they want to play the game, and they put us under a lot of pressure.

“The game, at the highest level, the margins are so small, and when things are going your way and you’re able to stay on top and dominate and win the big moments, I think that’s what essentially wins you big test matches, so they were able to do that tonight. We weren’t.

“I think we know what the solution is, and we’ll just have to be a lot better in the next three games.”

The Boks will have to turn this around quickly if they still want to win the four-match series, but Kriel said they were up to the challenge.

“You can expect a team that will work hard to find solutions, that will work hard for each other and that will play and try and represent South Africa as best as they can.”

But the veteran centre praised the All Blacks for the way they played.