Heyneke Meyer says sorry for Springboks humiliation following shock loss to Japan
South Africa coach describes defeat by Brave Blossoms as the worst moment of his career but said team must still try to top their pool
Shellshocked South Africa coach Heyneke Meyer apologised to the nation after the two-time champions suffered the biggest Rugby World Cup upset ever against Japan on Saturday.
"It is by far the worst moment of my coaching career," said Meyer after the 34-32 defeat in Brighton. "This is a very big wake-up call."
The 47-year-old - whose side had already been hit by a historic defeat by Argentina in the Rugby Championship last month - said the Springboks must now lift themselves and win their remaining matches to try to top pool B.
We represent a proud nation and I apologise to the nation. We have got to take it on the chin and get back on track
"We represent a proud nation and I apologise to the nation. We have got to take it on the chin and get back on track.
"It won't be easy for us to do that. But I have to as coach take responsibility for this."
Meyer watched powerless as the most experienced starting Springboks fifteen ever turned out were harried into errors. They never established superiority over a team who had not won a World Cup game since 1991 against Zimbabwe.
"All credit to them [the Japanese] they did well and they hung in there," said Meyer. "We knew they were going to be tough but that we had to concentrate on the way we play. I thought four tries was going to be enough but our discipline was not good enough.
"Their defence was brilliant, we didn't get good enough ball and were never on the front foot."
Meyer denied that South Africa had been over-confident going into the game.
"Definitely not, perhaps we paid them too much respect," said Meyer. "They've beaten us and deserve all the credit, we never got going and chased the game."
Japan coach Eddie Jones - who knows several Springbok players from his time as part of the 2007 World Cup-winning coaching team - disagreed on that point. "The Boks will come back, they are a proud group," said Jones.
Meyer admitted that the defeat had sent alarm bells ringing throughout the squad. "This is a very big wake-up call," he said. "Samoa, Scotland and US are not easy teams. It's going to be tough.
For Springbok captain Jean de Villiers the defeat was a new nightmare to add to the injury that ruled him out of the 2003 World Cup and the injury he suffered in the opening pool game of the 2007 edition so that he missed winning the final in Paris.
However, the 34-year-old centre - who only recently returned to the test arena after a serious knee injury and suffered a broken jaw in the defeat by Argentina - said Meyer should not take the blame alone.
"We were beaten by the better team on the day and we need to takes responsibility for this performance. It is way below the standards we set," said De Villiers. "It is really difficult to say where it went wrong but it was not good enough."
De Villiers - whose place in the side had been questioned by some after his performance in the Argentina defeat - said he would try to revive the side.
"I've got a massive role to play to pull the players through," said De Villiers.
"The fact remains it's a way below-par performance and it is not acceptable by our standards.
"It is a fantastic day for Japan but we have to take ownership of this performance."
