Coetzee sees positives despite Springboks humbling
Allister Coetzee was in an upbeat mood despite seeing South Africa suffer their heaviest defeat against New Zealand on Saturday.
South Africa was on the receiving end of a 57-0 humiliation from New Zealand in the Rugby Championship on Saturday, but coach Allister Coetzee still felt there were positives to take away.
The All Blacks were in rampant form in Albany, running in eight tries to secure their biggest-ever win over the Springboks and maintain their 100 per cent record in the competition.
Coetzee confessed his side were "outplayed" at QBE Stadium, but felt a lack of luck in the opening period made it difficult for them to come back from a glut of first-half scores.
"I'm pleased with a couple of brilliant defensive efforts and a lot of positives that we can still take out of this game," he said.
"We were just outplayed by a world-class team. If you look at the first three tries they scored; a quick tap caught us napping, an intercept followed from there, and then a cross-kick.
"All of a sudden you find yourself 21 points down, which is a tough ask. But all credit to the All Blacks, they were superb tonight.
"We actually did very well in terms of the territorial and possession stakes, it's just that the pass didn't go to hand at crucial stages. If we had scored a try or a couple of points in the first half it could have been a different thing, but they were just too good for us.
"It was a hell of a learning curve for us and this young team has learned incredible lessons. We will look at the positives."
