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‘I felt sorry for the player’

Portugal coach Simon Mannix spoke proudly of his team’s performance against the Springboks and gave André Esterhuizen a red card in the second minute of the match.

Os Lobos were defeated 64-21 by the Springboks in Bloemfontein on Saturday in the first ever meeting between the two countries, but Mannix was not discouraged by the final score.

Esterhuizen’s red card

South Africa were reduced to 14 men after two minutes of play, after midfielder Esterhuizen made a tackle on Jose Lima, forcing the Portuguese midfielder off the field.

Esterhuizen was initially given a yellow card for his offence, but after review by TMO Bunker the punishment was converted into a red card. Lima was taken to hospital.

Mannix commented on the incident in a post-match press conference, calling it an “unfortunate incident.” He offered his condolences to Esterhuizen.

“South Africa are a very strong team on all fronts and my thoughts are only with Jose Lima, who is still in hospital tonight. These are unfortunate things in rugby,” said the head coach.

“It was a direct clash and I really felt sorry for the player who got the red card. It was an unfortunate incident for everyone involved.

“But our thoughts are with Jose, but we hope all is well and we are praying for him.”

After Esterhuizen left the field, Portugal quickly took the lead. Lima’s replacement, Jose Paiva do Santos, finished a great effort from distance from his own 22-yard line after causing a turnover.

The substitute would score again later in the game and when Mannix was asked if the early red card was a reason for not continuing the game, he replied in the negative.

“In terms of the impact on the game, there’s no point in going into the details of what and what could happen. There are a lot of things that could have happened but didn’t happen and so on,” he said.

“I stand by my position that I am very proud of the team’s performance in quite a hostile environment and that they have done so well.”

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Proud of the achievement

He was also full of praise for both the Springboks and his team during his second game as manager of Os Lobos after taking over from Patrice Lagisquet.

“We’re not naive, we know it was a B team that played there, but a B team that played really good rugby at times and had some great athletes,” he said of the Springboks.

“We were beaten at the breakdown, in quite a few areas of the game actually. Still, we showed a lot of courage.

“We have guys who have played in the fourth and fifth divisions in France and to see them play in front of an incredible crowd and a great atmosphere, I couldn’t be more proud.”

He added: This was actually a preparation for the season for us. Physically we are not in the best condition to play this match, but we will learn a lot and improve.

“I was just so proud of the way we tried to play rugby and I thought we showed in the first 10 minutes that we could play the ball wide to pass it around and when we did that – you saw Portugal play at the World Cup – it was a real joy.”

READ MORE: Springboks v Portugal: Ranking of seven debutants as ‘magnificent’ attackers steals the show

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