The Boks fought their way back into the game from an early deficit, but it was too little too late in the end.
Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus admitted that their slow start, and poor first half performance, ended up costing them dearly during their 24-17 Rugby Championship defeat to the All Blacks at Eden Park in Auckland on Saturday.
The Boks produced an error strewn showing, and found themselves trailing 14-0 after 17 minutes and 17-3 early in the second half, before a late fightback gave them a chance of snatching a draw, which they were unable to do.
The Boks‘ set-piece was mixed, with a misfiring lineout backed up by a strong scrum, their maul battled to get go forward, and the All Blacks largely dominated the breakdown, which made things difficult.
Patchy lineouts
Another patchy showing at the lineout should certainly be a worry, as that was where much of the Boks’ attacking play tried to start from, but Erasmus dismissed any major concerns.
“The scrum contest was fairly even. Our maul was pretty static and they didn’t get a try from theirs. But the ruck was pretty messy, and their ball was much steadier. They didn’t do anything illegal, I just think we didn’t control it (the breakdown) well enough,” explained Erasmus.
“I think they also lost three lineouts. So the conditions weren’t easy. We are trying to do plays off the lineout. We don’t want to just win the lineout for the sake of winning it and do nothing with it, because that’s how New Zealand really stops you from getting going.
“So every now and then you chance your arm a little. It definitely wasn’t an individual’s problem. They more or less struggled as well, so we both have to fix our problems. It was group things, sometimes it was the call, sometimes the throw, so there are definitely things to work on.”
Erasmus continued: “But I think 14 points, two easy tries (cost us). Willie (le Roux) will accept that he made a mistake … I am not sure what he was trying to do with that (attempted) tackle (for Emoni Narawa’s try), and Malcolm (Marx) missed a tackle (for Will Jordan’s try).
“So we are 14 points down, it starts raining, and by then we are sort of chasing our own tail. We put ourselves into that position.”
Kicking game
Erasmus also praised the All Blacks‘ kicking game, saying they outsmarted the Boks in that aspect, but also admitted that there were some positives to take into next week, when the teams meet again in Wellington, and that they could build on the way they finished the game.
“I think they were better than us with their kicking game. They did it as much as we did, but they kicked a lot lower, it was like half punts between the fullback and the first line of defence, and that was clever in the (wet) weather,” said Erasmus.
“They were well prepared for our kicking game. I think in the end it was two teams who were desperate to win. You could see it at the end (of the game), we wouldn’t have won the game but we were close to a draw, but that’s not a consolation.
“If we are looking for positives in the performance, there were spells where we were terrible, and then there were really gutsy spells from us.
“I don’t think they had a lot of scoring opportunities, other than the tries they scored. I thought we just gave too many penalties away when we were on defence. So us fighting back against the number one team away from home is a positive.
“We also have another chance next weekend. But that doesn’t overshadow the bad things that we did in the game (and need to fix). But there is certainly something to build on.”
