South Africa character made up for mistakes - Erasmus

Rassie Erasmus praised South Africa’s character after they came through an error-strewn performance to beat England 23-12 and wrap up the three-Test series.

The Springboks had won the opener a week earlier, but they initially struggled on Saturday and found themselves 12-0 down to the touring side.

However, Erasmus’ men battled away to score 23 unanswered points and leave their coach happy, even if he could acknowledge that mistakes had been made.

“Being behind by only 12 points and not 24 points helped a bit, but we got our composure back quicker than last week,” Erasmus said afterwards.

“There were still a lot of mistakes, but I thought the character the guys showed was enough to win the game. What the players learned last week and again this week will help them going into the future.

#ICYMI – The #Springboks claimed a 23-12 win in Bloemfontein. @CastleLagerSA @MTNza @FNBSA @ASICS_ZA pic.twitter.com/nZdffYpPIo

— Springboks (@Springboks) June 16, 2018

“But we don’t want to start like that again. [There were] bad penalties that we gave away, bad discipline, a lot of things that we did wrong.”

And Erasmus, new to the job for these mid-year internationals, is now glad to have the opportunity to experiment with his team for the third Test.

“It is nice to have the series wrapped up. Next week we want to try and win 3-0,” he said.

“But we will try a few new things because now we have the opportunity to put different guys in different positions under pressure.”