Boks take valuable lessons from Los Pumas thrashing
REACTION: Springbok head coach Rassie Erasmus and captain Siya Kolisi spoke about the lessons they learnt from their 67-30 thrashing of Argentina.
The scoreline suggests that it was a walk in the park for the Boks, but at half-time, merely two points separated the two teams.
The Boks were guilty of conceding multiple offside penalties, and hooker Malcolm Marx was yellow-carded for the cynical collapse of Argentina’s maul, which resulted in a penalty try.
Star of the match, Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, restored the lead moments later after the half-time siren went off with a piece of individual brilliance before the Boks pulled away and ran riot against the South Americans in the second half.
Erasmus conceded that the Boks made silly errors during the first half and that players’ individual brilliance helped the Boks clinch the big victory.
He also had praise for Argentina for the challenge they gave the Boks.
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“I just feel that it’s a hell of a willing Argentinian team,” Erasmus said.
“At this stage of the Rugby Championship, injuries and squad depth play a big role.
“They went with a six-two [forward-heavy] bench split and suffered several injuries.
“We also have a few casualties.
“We did a few stupid things tonight that resulted in gifting them tries.
“The yellow card [to Malcom Marx] and Cheslin’s [Kolbe] drop kick from the in-goal area.
“But we are happy because we know this is an excellent Argentinian team.
“And we had to sort out a lot of things at half-time. I thought the game wasn’t dead and buried at the 40-minute mark.
“Both teams were up for it and we wanted to play well, but I also felt that some individual brilliance made a massive difference in this game.”
Kolisi added that there wasn’t much of a halftime speech for his side.
The captain credited the whole squad for their input to tighten the screws in the second half.
He also conceded that the Boks will take the lessons from this match heading into the rematch and potential Rugby Championship decider at Twickenham this coming weekend.
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“As coach said, and like I said during the week, this match was a semifinal,” Kolisi told @rugby365com.
“We know how good Argentina is and how tough the match would be.
“But looking at the mistakes we made, we felt that we gave them so many opportunities through the penalties and tries we conceded.
“However, the positive thing is how we responded.
“Especially after Cheslin made that mistake and they scored.
“Sacha [Feinberg-Mngomezulu] fought to reclaim the restart, and that shows the mentality of the boys.
“I didn’t have to say much. Seeing Pietie [Pieter-Steph du Toit] and Jasper [Wiese] take the lead alongside all the other players who played a lot was pretty good.
“It wasn’t a case of me saying something.
“Everyone gave their input, including the guys who weren’t playing.
“The coaches had a simple message for us.
“We just went out there and tried to be as disciplined as possible, especially because we lost Malcolm [Marx] inside of the first half [due to a yellow card]
“That was a positive for the team. Through all the mistakes we made, we were able to fight back.
“But obviously, we will look to lessen those mistakes next week.”
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