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How a 'hurt' Rassie Erasmus reacted to Boks' defeat
By Ian Cameron
Springbok head coach Rassie Erasmus admitted the team was hurting following their narrow 29-28 defeat to Argentina in the Castle Lager Rugby Championship in Santiago del Estero on Saturday.
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The loss sees South Africa lose their number one spot on the World Rugby ranking to Ireland.
Erasmus stated they would use Sunday’s travel day to recover before regrouping on Monday to prepare for the final round in Nelspruit next weekend.
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“It hurts a lot,” said Erasmus. “It’s putting a positive spin on things to say the match in Mbombela could be fitting as a final to the competition because we must first get over this result.
“We have to point fingers at ourselves as coaches and management too, but that said, we have a chance to redeem ourselves next week and to finish the Castle Lager Rugby Championship on a high note.”
“It was a great match by Argentina, while we made crucial mistakes at vital times, so all credit to them, they deserved the win.
“They knew they had a chance to win the competition with a victory, and you could see they were going for the bonus-point, and they really brought it to us.
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“I definitely think the momentum shifted when we received the yellow card (to Kurt-Lee Arendse), so it’s going to be a tough match at Mbombela Stadium next week.”
Erasmus refused to throw flyhalf Manie Libbok under the bus even after he missed a crucial kick at the end of the game.
“If we didn’t miss the penalty kick in the end, there would have been smiles all around. But if you look at the game, there were a few things that didn’t go our way.
“Our lineout didn’t function as well as we would have liked, but there were also a lot of other things we could have done better that would have ensured that the match didn’t come down to that kick, so we have a lot to work on next week.
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“We started well and I’m always nervous when we start well because we generally tend to fight back hard,” said Erasmus.
“But we should have put them away early on. That said, they did well to exploit the yellow card, and that’s where the momentum swung.”
Springbok captain Salmaan Moerat echoed his coach’s sentiments, acknowledging the team’s performance was below standard. Argentina’s win places added pressure on South Africa as they now face a decisive fixture to secure their standing in the competition.
“There were parts of the game when we put them under pressure, and after the yellow card we took our foot off the pedal. Simply said, it was not good enough from us out there.
“Argentina are a tough team to play at home, and as we said in the week, if you do not pitch up fully, they can punish you, and they showed that.”
The Pumas’ victory moved them to 14 points in the standings, while the Springboks, with a losing bonus point, are on 19. A Springbok win in the final round would secure their first Rugby Championship title since 2019, capping a series where they claimed both the Nelson Mandela Challenge Plate and the Freedom Cup.
Erasmus confirmed that the rested players will rejoin the squad in Nelspruit. Both teams flew back to South Africa together after the match, with the Springboks set to resume full training on Monday ahead of the decisive fixture.
I get the big picture of giving as many chances to the upstarts as possible and building depth to the squad but think the Boks should have put this to bed this wknd. Then play the same full strength squad again and bring in the upstarts to finish off the game this wknd. In the grand scheme of things not all is lost - Boks are in capable hands coaching and talent wise. Let’s enjoy the good times while their here. Thank you Tassie and team for making the Boks a force to be reckoned with once again.
Interesting to see Rassies reaction with selection going forward. After the Boks lost to Wales in 2018 with a second string side many of those players found themselves on the wrong end of a cull. Curwin Bosch for example never played for the Boks again. In 2022 when they lost to Wales at home a number of players in that test did not appear again until this year. For example Nortje did not play for the Boks again until the lock crisis this year and several others were culled from the wider squad. Now what will happen to some of the fringe players and some of the more experienced players after this test? Mapimpi was clearly off the pace as were several others. Jasper Wiese was powerful but not dynamic, In the loosies Van Staden missed three crucial tackles while Moerat was ineffectual. Pollard while good for the first 15, looked slow and cumbersome in defence and Libbok kicked a penalty dead and made a mess of the kick to win the contest. Rassie learns more from these games about the players than anyone else and he has some big decisions to make
Rassie has to be uosert they lost because now he has to make up some fake outrage to try and soothe the massive thickos who spew utterly ignorant 💩 all the time in comments section like here.
Especially rich since all of them are too cheap to buy match tickets to actually support their teams.
He has to be pining to return to the NH and escape the insistent whining of the millions of Saffa thickos.
This game was "lost" deliberately.
Had the Boks won, Nelspruit would have been a half empty stadium dead rubber.
And it meant nothing in the big scheme. So let the Pumas have their win at home for the Tri-Nations 3beat kudos.
Now Nelspruit becomes a "must" win, people are engaged, and we sell tickets and get folks tuning in on TV.
Come on fellas, we know its a money thing....
Like you lost deliberately in the RWC against Ireland because....what was the reason for that one again?
No team would lose its world number one position to sell a few tickets, mental.
Why tf would you lose a game on purpose? Most Springbok thing I have ever seen. absolutely delulu
Mannie didn’t make all the mistakes that led to Argentina scoring 29 points.
Rough gig being a kicker. You are the hero one game and a disgrace to the nation the next.
Really? And at half time you didn't suggest putting a foot back on the pedal?