Lood De Jager may have only been on the pitch for 24 minutes, but it was long enough for the towering lock to have a decisive say in the Test series.

A starter during the successful 2019 World Cup campaign, De Jager has lost his place to Franco Mostert, having been hampered by injury.

The 28-year-old was immense off the bench last weekend, as he added a third lineout option in the absence of Pieter-Steph du Toit and helped the Boks’ maul find their groove again.

“We were disappointed with what we brought as a bench in the first Test,” De Jager said.

“A lack of game-time, rustiness, but we won’t make any excuses. We disappointed ourselves, our coaches, and our country. We said we were going to make it personal. That fired us up as a bench as well.”

De Jager certainly played like a man with a point to prove, as the Sale man brought an edge to proceedings.

“There was probably a little more niggle, it’s just the magnitude of the game,” he maintained. “It’s just what it is. They are playing for their countries, they are world-class players who are there for a reason. For us, it was personal as well. It was a massive game for them, if they won that game, they won the series. For us, it was even bigger. If we lost, we were done. The magnitude of the game contributed to that little bit of niggle.

“Another thing is keeping each other accountable and driving standards. Hopefully, we can carry that same energy into this weekend’s deciding Test match.”

Having gotten another game under their belts after so long without one, the Boks are peaking at the right time.  

“We can never be satisfied, there are always areas to improve on,” De Jager added.  “We’ve got an exceptional defence coach in Jacques Nienaber who pushes us hard and he’s never satisfied. We’ve had good results in defence but there are small areas that can make us better.”

Meanwhile, South Africa are sweating over the fitness of Du Toit and Faf de Klerk ahead of today’s team announcement for Saturday’s decider.

However, those worries have been offset by confirmation that their outstanding No 8 Duane Vermeulen trained with the squad yesterday. 

Rosko Specman (winger), Dan du Preez (back-row) and Johan Grobbelaar (hooker) have been added to the squad, along with Vermeulen and Jaden Hendrikse (scrum-half).