AUDIO: Boks embarrassed Rassie
REACTION: Embarrassing was the only word to sum up Springboks’ 19-32 defeat to Argentina, according to head coach Rassie Erasmus.
The Springboks opened their Rugby Championship campaign with a 34-21 victory over the Los Pumas in Durban.
However, Argentina produced a physical performance to snap an 11-match losing streak in front of an ecstatic crowd at the Estadio Malvinas Argentinas.
Flyhalf Nicolas Sanchez starred for the Pumas in the second-round match, scoring 17 first-half points as they built a 27-7 half-time lead.
“I wasn’t disappointing, it was embarrassing,” Erasmus told reporters after the match.
“We made only one change to the starting team from last week, when we dominated them and to come to Mendoza and play like this, it is embarrassing,”
“We have to point the fingers to ourselves, firstly as coaches and then as players, whether players should get dropped or we as coaches should be reassessed, we should just fix it,”
Springbok skipper Siya Kolisi scored his side’s only try in the first half and the Boks delivered a much better performance in the second half.
Lionel Mapoe (replacement wing) scored twice in the right-hand corner after the break for his first tries in the Green and Gold jersey. Mapoe was an early replacement for Makazole Mapimpi, who suffered a knock to the knee.
“We were playing better rugby in the second half but we did not capitalise on it and we look like a team playing club rugby.
“I’m not going to look for positives after a performance like that. We have no excuses, we knew exactly what to expect, we prepared for it but we just didn’t handle it,” added Erasmus.
