Springboks ponder the 'what ifs' of a narrow loss

The Springboks flew home yesterday convinced they outplayed the All Blacks up front and rueful that an ounce of luck could have sparked a different result in the Tri-Nations test at Carisbrook.

With both sides scoring one try, New Zealand's win was founded on an unexpected source, the superior goalkicking of first five-eighth Carlos Spencer.

He and Springbok opposite Louis Koen had five shots at goal each, with the much-maligned All Black kicker landing all five and Koen only two - albeit from tougher positions overall.

Koen, one of the world's most accurate goalkickers, also missed three drop goal attempts.

Springbok coach Rudolf Straeuli would not blame Koen, but said if the kickers' fortunes had been reversed it could easily have had the same effect on the result.

He was nevertheless pleased with his side's massive improvement since losing 52-16 to the All Blacks at Loftus Versfeld in Pretoria three weeks earlier.

"After Loftus we decided we really wanted to put it right and if it wasn't for one or two things the result could have gone our way," Straeuli said. "They never broke our defensive line, only a kick caught us, and we had a good line break and there was a great try by Richard Bands.

"I think the forwards outplayed them and there was some great captaincy by Corne Krige, but at the end you have to win these close games. We had our chances."

Krige kept faith in his team, knowing their performance at Pretoria was a far cry from what they hope to produce at the World Cup.

"I always knew in my heart and mind that Loftus was a one-off freak game and that it would never happen again," he said. "We needed to win this game, not just keep it close. Our finishing-off in the end let us down."

Koen was downcast afterwards.

"It was very disappointing because I think I pretty much let the team down," Koen said. "We made a lot of tackles and we proved to ourselves against the most highly rated backline in world rugby that we can hold them out.

"I don't think there is honour in defeat because we are a proud team who wants to win games. If I kicked better it could have been different."

- NZPA