South Africa breathed a sigh of relief after overcoming a challenging Rugby World Cup Pool B match against Scotland on Sunday, securing an 18-3 victory in Marseille. However, their bid to defend their title may have been marred by an injury to lock Eben Etzebeth.
In a crucial pool-stage encounter, second-half tries from flanker Pieter-Steph du Toit and wing Kurt-Lee Arendse propelled the Springboks to a significant win. With world number one Ireland also in their group, the victory was crucial, as only two teams from the pool would advance to the quarter-finals.
South Africa’s head coach, Jacques Nienaber, acknowledged the magnitude of the challenge posed by Scotland. “This was always going to be a slippery one; they (Scotland) are the number five team in the world, and they deserve that ranking,” Nienaber remarked during a press conference. “They have the ability to beat anyone on the day. For us, it is the first step in the right direction.”
The South African team suffered a setback when lock Eben Etzebeth sustained a shoulder injury after 26 minutes, casting uncertainty over his availability for future matches. Etzebeth is a key player in South Africa’s formidable pack, making his injury a potentially significant blow to their campaign.
Regarding Etzebeth’s injury, Nienaber stated, “He will be assessed on Monday, at this stage we have no idea how serious, or not, it is.”
Nienaber, who was the defense coach for South Africa when they clinched the World Cup in 2019, praised his team’s effort in containing a Scotland side known for the efficiency of their attack.
“They are a team that play with great speed and have got good innovation in terms of how they attack,” Nienaber emphasized. “We had to be really sharp in terms of cutting off their options. They can create something out of nothing. There was a lot of hard work off the field (in the build-up to the game), but also on the field to keep them at bay. It took a lot.”
South Africa’s next challenge comes in the form of a match against minnows Romania next Sunday. Nienaber stressed that they are focusing solely on that fixture and not looking ahead to a potential pool decider against Ireland on September 23.
“Our next focus is Romania only. We won’t even think about Ireland. We also need to fix the things we got wrong tonight,” Nienaber concluded.
