We should have won it, say Boks

5.00pm - By DANIEL GILHOOLY

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

With both sides scoring a try each, New Zealand's 19-11 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 Blacks kicker landing all five and Koen only two -- albeit from more difficult positions overall.

One of the world's most accurate goalkickers, Koen also failed with three drop-goal attempts.

Straeuli wouldn't blame Koen but said if the kickers' fortunes had reversed it could easily have had the respective effect on the result.

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

"After Loftus we decided that 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, hopeful he would have a chance to atone for his misses against the All Blacks again soon.

"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.

"They never got through us at all and it was only a grubber kick that beat us.

"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