Jesse Kriel has acknowledged South Africa's inability to convert territorial dominance into points as the primary failure in Saturday's 33-16 first Test defeat to the All Blacks at Ellis Park, while crediting New Zealand with an impressive all-round performance under Dave Rennie.
The Boks controlled the match up front for the opening 56 minutes but could not translate that pressure into scores, a theme Kriel was direct about. "When we got down there into the 22m, we weren't as clinical as we wanted to be," he said. "New Zealand made it hard for us to play that advantage."
Breakdown work was another area Kriel singled out, describing the All Blacks as "unbelievable" in that department and conceding South Africa will need significant improvement there ahead of the second Test in Cape Town. "We knew it was going to be a big threat coming into the game, and we'll just have to be better. It's as simple as that."
Kriel also pointed to the new look and feel of Rennie's side as a factor the Boks had to navigate. "They obviously have got a bit of the new DNA and how they want to play the game, and they put us under a lot of pressure."
With three Tests remaining in the series, Kriel framed the defeat as a learnings exercise rather than a crisis. "I think we know what the solution is, and we'll just have to be a lot better in the next three games."