'It's nice to go to next game as underdogs. It feels different,' said Bok coach Rassie Erasmus, who added that all was not lost.
André Esterhuizen on his way to score the Springboks’ only try against the All Blacks at Ellis Park. Picture: Johan Orton/Gallo Images
Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus said the All Blacks deserved to win their first Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry Test. But the South Africans can still win their next three games in a row and claim the inaugural title, starting with victory in Cape Town this coming weekend.
Saturday’s 33-16 result at Ellis Park ended the Springboks’ 12-Test winning streak. It also allowed the All Blacks to overtake them at the top of the World Rugby rankings.
The Springboks enjoyed plenty of possession and territory, leading 13-12 at the break.
But they repeatedly failed to capitalise when they entered the All Blacks’ 22, knocking the ball on, causing an obstruction or losing possession at the breakdown.
Springboks fall short
South Africa had tries by Malcolm Marx and Grant Williams disallowed, and saw Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu’s effort held up. At the same time, their decision to turn down kickable penalties ultimately proved costly.
A crucial moment was when the All Blacks led 19-16 in the second half, and the Springboks won penalty after penalty right in front of the posts, before Gerhard Steenekamp was penalised for walking around the scrum, allowing New Zealand to escape.
Momentum shifted from there until South Africa found themselves 10 points behind in their own 22, with two players in the sin bin for the final 10 minutes.
Erasmus said “the game was totally lost” at that point.
“We are now in the position where if we want to win the series we have to win three games on the trot. Without a doubt it puts them [All Blacks] in a very good position, which they thoroughly deserve.”
Erasmus said it was “nice to go to next game as underdogs. It feels different”.
Three in a row against the All Blacks
“We’ve been in many catastrophic situations. We lost the first Test against the British & Irish Lions [in 2021].
“We lost the pool game against New Zealand in the [2019] World Cup. Everyone said that that was catastrophic.”
The Springbok coach said he would not “butter it up” or use clichés that they would learn from the game. They knew what they needed to do but were still found wanting.
“Even if we got that scrum penalty and kicked it over and we won, there were still a hell of a lot of errors that we made. It’s not a wake-up call; there are just so many things that we did wrong, and New Zealand did right.
The Boks may be without Kurt-Lee Arendse in the Cape Town match due to HIA protocols.
