The Springboks defeated France in a narrow 29:28 victory leaving the French disgruntled. The defending champions reigned supreme as they battled their way through a tough match that had fans sitting at the edge of their seats.
Springbok coach Jacques Nienaber gave credit to France adding that South Africa wasn’t expecting the game to be an easy one.
“Credit to the French first of all. We knew it was going to be this tight. I think everybody knew it was going to be a big battle. There were two good teams and fortunately for us, we were on the right side of things”, said Nienaber.
Taking the defeat has been hard on French fans which has sparked some well expected controversy around the game with former referee Romain Polite saying he believes that Springboks flanker Pieter-Steph du Toit should have been red-carded during the quarter final against France.
What could have been a red card is nothing compared to how the French fans have taken matters into their own hands. It has gotten to the point where one of the Springbok players, Cobus Reinach has received death threats on Instagram. This was confirmed by South African Rugby Union director of rugby, Rassie Erasmus on Twitter.
This came after Reinach’s starring role in the Springboks’ quarter-final win over hosts France.
Nienaber said he feels that it is time to go for players who they believe are in their best form for the upcoming semi-final against England.
“We have a squad of 33 players, all of whom are very closely matched in terms of their skill and quality of play, which made it tempting to make changes this week and it was tough to select this group both last week and this week. But we feel it’s now time to go with the players in the squad who we believe are in their best form”, Nienaber said.
Brands are also excited about the big win with advertising campaigns going out that are focused on spreading the love with a sprinkle of humour. Joining the Springboks wave, a butchery posted their take on the classic french polony which was advertised to weigh only 29.28 per kilo, indicating the obvious victory of the Springboks. Another brand compared the bread croissant to the South African “igwinya” insinuating that the signs that South Africans had tougher skin were always there.
South Africa will face England tomorrow dated 21 October 2023 at 9pm in a clash clash that is expected to go down in the history books.
Picture cred: The Citizen
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