SCOTLAND HEAD COACH Gregor Towsend expressed his surprise that an apparent high tackle by Springboks centre Jesse Kriel on Scotland back row Jack Dempsey was not reviewed during his side’s 18-3 defeat in Marseille.
The incident, which took place two minutes into the game, was not flagged by the Television Match Official [TMO], Ben Whitehouse, for a review with referee Angus Gardner at the time, despite a replay being shown during the live TV broadcast.
It remains to be seen if Kriel is cited for the collision, but Townsend seemed unimpressed.
“I saw it about two screens away so it did look like a head-on-head collision and I was expecting the TMO to come in and make the referee aware of that,” said Townsend, who admitted he wasn’t sure if an early yellow or red card would have changed the outcome.
“Who knows? If it had been a red card… last night a red card didn’t change the game in Argentina’s way [against England]. So who knows?”
Asked if the inconsistency around head contacts is frustrating, Townsend replied, “Yes.”
Townsend was very far from attempting to blame that incident for Scotland’s defeat to the Springboks.
He was honest in his assessment of his side’s performance.
“Disappointed,” said Townsend, “really disappointed.
“We were slow to get going in the first half. There was a bit of inaccuracy in our own play but then we built into the game. I felt physically we were more up for the challenges South Africa bring and the way they play and we started to win penalties at scrum time, which was a real bonus.
“There were opportunities, not many, in our attacking game but there was a couple in the first half and we needed to build on that second quarter but we start with some inaccuracies again and South Africa built on the points and it became difficult in those conditions against that defence to play from deep.
“It became risky and we never got the accuracy to trouble them on the scoreboard.”
Meanwhile, Springboks head coach Jacques Nienaber was pleased with his side’s first World Cup outing.
He couldn’t provide clarity on the injury for influential second row Eben Etzebeth, who was forced off with a shoulder issue in the first half.
While South Africa have great depth in their forwards, Etzebeth is still a key man, meaning the Springboks will be hoping he is fit in time for the big Pool B clash with Ireland in Paris on 23 September.
Nienaber was also asked about the use of coloured lights in the Springboks’ coaching box during the win over Scotland and insisted that they were for communication around player injuries. Earlier in his coaching career, Springboks director of rugby Rassie Erasmus used a ‘traffic lights’ system to direct players on which plays to call during games.
Asked if there was a tactical element to the use of the lights, Nienaber reiterated that it is only for player injuries and said there was a similar use of colours to grade injuries during his time in Munster.
As for the prospect of facing Ireland in a couple of weeks’ time, Nienaber said the Boks will just focus on their next clash against Romania.
“This was a slippery one for us,” said Nienaber. “You played number five in the world. They have the ability to knock off anyone on their day. For us, it is the first step in the right direction. To get out of the pools was going to be massive, we knew that, and our next focus is Romania.
“We won’t even think about Ireland. The only way I will look at Ireland is that Romania have played against Ireland. It is Romania and Romania alone, not Ireland in 13 days’ time. And also the things we got wrong tonight.”
Nienaber was asked about out-half Manie Libbok’s goal-kicking after he missed three of his five kicks at goal, but the Springboks head coach responded that he wasn’t worried because Libbok had been named man of the match.
While Nienaber brushed that one off and a different topic was raised, Springboks captain Siya Kolisi asked to come in on the Libbok question.
“This question gets asked quite a lot when he misses kicks,” said Kolisi. “We play as a team and sometimes you are not good at one thing. But the way he attacked today and the way he took control of the team, how he is a general among us, people forget that and remember the other stuff.
“Faf [de Klerk] can kick. Cheslin [Kolbe] can kick. There are a lot of guys we can call on. It is the same with me. Sometimes I don’t know what to call in a game and Eben will call or Manie makes a call.
“If someone is lacking somewhere, then someone else picks up for them. You can’t have everything on the day. Sometimes someone lacks something and that’s why we don’t stress about it. It is the same with a throw. If it is missed, it is not done intentionally.”