'I know South African supporters. If I say we are learning while losing they will be the 'moer in' - they'll be upset,' the Springbok coach said.
Scrumhalf Morné van den Berg was part of a Springbok bomb squad that had little impact until after the Wallabies received four yellow cards. Picture: Janelle St Pierre/Getty Images
Head coach Rassie Erasmus said the Springboks hated to lose 42-38 to the Wallabies in Perth on Sunday.
But positives could be taken from the game in the form of “valuable experience” and their insightful look at their opponents ahead of next year’s Rugby World Cup in Australia.
The Springboks made numerous errors, squandering opportunities and gifting points to the hosts.
While they were 17-all just before half-time, the Wallabies scored 25 unanswered points before ill-discipline cost them.
The Springboks only clawed their way back into the game after the hosts received four yellow cards – South Africa scoring three tries (including a penalty try) in the last 10 minutes to close the gap.
They almost secured a big comeback win but had a try disallowed for a knock-on, and then lost the ball in the final attack.
‘The better team won’
“[Despite] all the disruptions, we have nobody to blame but ourselves,” Erasmus said afterwards, referring to scoreboard errors, the clock continuing after referee Andrea Piardi told it to stop, and communication issues that had the referees using cellphones.
“That didn’t have an influence on how we played. We controlled how we played and we didn’t play well enough to beat Australia.”
He said close to 30 seconds were lost while the clock ticked by during Edwill van der Merwe’s late try review.
But “the better team won”.
“We rolled the dice a little bit on some guys who haven’t played together in a long time – not [using it] as an excuse,” Erasmus said of their 13 changes to the starting XV.
“We picked the team and we had a game plan. And our game plan, players and coaching staff didn’t trump theirs.”
Springboks take positives out of defeat
The Bok coach said it was “shit to lose” and the team knew how their fans were feeling.
“I know South African supporters. If I say we are learning while losing they will be moering. They’ll be upset. If we pulled this through I would have sat here and said we learned a lot about our players and tight situations. If I say it when we lose it’s a cliché.
“It’s nice to have a had a taste of them so next year when we play them we will know a bit more about each other. I will not say lessons learned, but I think it was valuable experience for us.”
