Springboks happy with officials' performance in the second test

Springbok forward coach Deon Davids has said that the South Africans are happy with the way the match officials handled Saturday's 27-9 victory over the British & Irish Lions.

The Springboks bounced back from their defeat in the first test to tie up the series and set up a decider this weekend.

Rassie Erasmus launched a scathing review of the match officials after the defeat in the first test in an extraordinary 62-minute video with one of Erasmus' biggest accusations centred around the treatment of Siya Kolisi, who felt he felt had been disrespected by referee Nic Berry.

Davids said he believed there was a vast improvement from the officials in the second test with Ben O'Keeffe said he did not know if Erasmus’ tirade played a role.

"I can’t comment on whether it was as a direct result, but all I can say is that we are quite happy in how certain areas of the game that we highlighted were refereed this week," Davids said in a press conference on Monday. 

"There was good communication between the referee and the captain throughout the game, and we were able to express ourselves in the way that we want to and play the type of rugby that we feel is our strength."

New Zealand coach Ian Foster said the style of both teams "put me to sleep", with the Boks having been labelled as "boring" in the past.

"I was not with the team then, but the same narrative was there when the Boks won the (Rugby) Championship in 2019. It was the same when they won the World Cup," Davids said.

"There is always a plan behind everything. When we execute stuff it is not about being 'boring', it is about understanding what we want to achieve.

"In doing that, we created enough opportunities to play with the ball in hand and score tries. I believe in our approach and where it leads us to."