Tri Nations 2008
De Villiers admits Boks were outplayed
Scrum.com
July 19, 2008
Peter de Villiers of the Springboks talks to the media during a South African Springboks press conference at Burswood Entertainment Complex on July 14, 2008 in Perth, Australia.
Peter de Villiers admitted that his Springbok side was not where he wanted © Getty Images
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As the World Champion Springboks head for home after defeat to Australia 16-9 in their third match of this season's Tri-Nations campaign, coach Peter De Villiers is content, but not ecstatic with his team's performance so far.

"One out of three is not bad but it is not what we wanted" he commented after the match at Subiaco Oval in Perth.

South Africa dominated periods of the match but Australia fought their way to a two try to none victory.

"We can look for a lot of excuses if we want to but the bottom line is they outplayed us today and they were better at the breakdown. We were a bit off the pace today. There wasn't a lot of second phase ball that we could play from. They outplayed us on the ground and they were more clinical."

"We didn't look for chances to play the game and put them under pressure. Then again we had four chances to score tries that we didn't take and, at this level if you don't take your chances you will pay for it".

De Villiers also hinted that Australia had a considerable advantage, having seen and analysed the two previous Springbok matches against the All Blacks, but looked forward to the return encounter at Newlands in Cape Town on August 16.

"They were up for it. They could study us and see how we played against New Zealand. Now that we've got some footage of them, I think the next game we will be on the same level".

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