Old guard come through for Meyer; Rugby 365

Springbok coach Heyneke Meyer felt vindicated by the decisive contribution from the experienced players on the bench in the late win against Australia.

Meyer has been criticised for selecting players that some feel are too old for Test duty, but 2007 World Cup-winners Schalk Burger, Bakkies Botha, Bismarck du Plessis, JP Pietersen, Jean de Villiers and Victor Matfield were all key in the late surge which saw the Springboks score three tries in the last ten minutes to claim a bonus-point win on Saturday.

The Wallabies had managed to frustrate Meyer's team who battled to make the most of their dominance for the majority of the match in the face of an impressive defensive effort, but the floodgates opened in an intense finish as the fresh legs and calm heads that joined the fray made the kind of impact Meyer had been hoping for.

"I get criticism for picking old guys, but I said I wanted to go with a little bit more experienced bench and they need to up the tempo and I really thought they were brilliant.

"Every single guy that came on really made a huge difference, I think we kept the ball for about 15 phases at the end and that is the type of rugby we want to play," he said.

The Bok coach paid credit to the Wallabies for what was a big defensive effort, and added that his team's fitness had been key to their strong finish.

"I thought we played some great rugby in the beginning but their defence was awesome. We got frustrated at times and maybe held too much onto the ball where we should have been more tactical but it wore them down.

"I would like to look at the ball-in-play stats, it was an unbelievable Test match. The ball in play will probably be one of the highest ever, both teams kept on attacking.

"I have been renowned as a guy that puts a big emphasis on fitness and that is one thing with the Boks that I am still not happy with because you don't have time with them.

"It is a great achievement for our fitness, there is no way we would have come back and scored those tries at the end if we were not fit," he said.

Meyer admitted that the Wallabies had been able to frustrate his side by slowing down their ball, but was encouraged with the way they stuck to their guns and felt that they had earned the reward that came in the final stages.

"All credit to their defence, we didn't get quick ball because they didn't roll away. But because we kept on carrying the ball we got some quick ball in the second half and luckily we scored some great tries.

"We get a lot of criticism because we don't attack, but last year we scored the most tries and I know we can score a lot of great tries if we keep the ball in hand," he said.

By Michael de Vries