Discipline key for second Wallabies test
Quade Cooper’s 23 points on Saturday proved that discipline
is going to be key when the Springboks meet Australia again in their second
consecutive game at Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane on Saturday.
Cooper slotted seven penalties for the home side which included a final second three-pointer and lock-come-flank Franco Mostert knows that the side must concede fewer penalties when the two sides meet this weekend.
“Our discipline let us down a bit but with our travel today we did our reboot, and we will get back out there tomorrow and focus again,” Mostert said.
“Hopefully in the coming days we can improve on the set-pieces and all the various situations that we are going to come across.”
The Springboks battled to gain ascendancy at the set pieces, a part of their game that they rely heavily on, and for assistant coach Deon Davids this weekend is going to be another opportunity for the side to show their dominance in that facet.
“Scrums are a very difficult area to officiate and looking back we need to make sure that we understand how we need to interpret the areas that we need to work on.
“The calls can go either way and I feel for the referees and the players on the calls that they have to make but we’ve discussed this as a team, and we’ve had brief discussions with the referees about their interpretation.
“I think going forward we will have a better understanding in terms of what we need to do to make sure we get rewarded going forward.”
Despite the issues that the Springboks had at the set-piece and during the match, Davids isn’t making any excuses and wants the team to get it right on Saturday.
“First and foremost, we will be the first to say that this was not our best performance if you look at the different areas of the game.
“All credit to the Wallabies who are a well coached side and the things that they worked on worked out for them on the day.
“We had a lot of opportunities and if we used them the result would have been different.
“Having experienced that and looking forward to this weekend I am confident that the players will handle whatever is thrown at them and maybe we’ll get a better result.”
Springbok lock Nicolaas Janse van Rensberg has returned home from the tour due to personal reasons. There won’t be any new player called up to the squad as the coaching staff believe they have enough cover at lock.
