Siya Kolisi says the Springboks were off the pace and failed to impose themselves soon enough at Ellis Park on Saturday, allowing the victorious All Blacks to punish the world champions.

In a complete turnaround from last week’s Rugby Championship clash in Nelspruit, it was the All Blacks who were quick out the blocks in Johannesburg as New Zealand raced into a 15-0 lead by the 28th minute.

The visitors then settled into their groove and weathered a fightback from the hosts, the Kiwis eventually edging the Boks in a 35-23 win to claim the Freedom Cup. 

After dominating the All Blacks at Mbombela Stadium, the Boks will be asking themselves a few tough questions, particularly in the lineouts and how well New Zealand nullified SA’s key strike weapon, the kick chase.

All Blacks: Cane ‘stoked’ to prove doubters wrong

“In the first half the game was quite fast, we couldn’t really force our gameplan upon them. They made great plans but we could’ve worked a lot harder in the first half,” said Kolisi in a post-match interview on where things went wrong for the Boks.

“They played really well out here today and, like we always knew, they only needed a couple of moments to make it count and they definitely did. So, congrats to Sam [Cane] and his boys.”

He added: “Thank you to everyone who came out, the atmosphere was out of this world – every single weekend – and we’re sorry we couldn’t pull it through today.”

Highlights: All Blacks clinch thriller in Joburg

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