Rassie hails Springboks' 'guts' but admits big changes must now stop
REACTION: The Springboks scraped past Argentina in Buenos Aires, but Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus knows the days of wholesale rotation are coming to an end.
With Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry against New Zealand looming, the Bok coach is ready to settle on a more consistent team as the stakes rise.
Erasmus admits the Springboks’ narrow 17-10 victory was not perfect, but the result gave him exactly what he wanted from a Test played with a heavily rotated squad: a chance to grind out a win under pressure.
The Springboks made wholesale changes for the clash, with around 10 players returning from injury or long periods without Test rugby. The lack of continuity showed, particularly in attack, as South Africa struggled to build sustained pressure and repeatedly handed possession back to the Pumas.
Erasmus had expected as much.
“With seven, eight guys who played almost no minutes in the last six, seven weeks, I always thought it was going to be disjointed,” he said.
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The Springboks were ultimately rescued by their defence, limiting Argentina to just 10 points despite the hosts enjoying the momentum and backing of a passionate Buenos Aires crowd.
“We’re not happy with the performance, but we are happy with the guts we showed,” Erasmus said.
“I thought our defence today was what won the game, and we can always attack better and that will get better with time. We had a lot of changes again.”
“Our track record here has never been great,” Erasmus said. “They play a very similar style of physical game as us, and we always struggle to get over them physically.”
*Also read: Boks grind past Argentina in nervy Buenos Aires contest
While the coach was happy with the defence and discipline of his charges, the attack did not excite him.
The attack remains a work in progress. Several key back players were returning from injury, including Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, Ethan Hooker, Canan Moodie, Morne van den Berg and Andre Esterhuizen.
“The biggest thing is on attack, which we have to sort out, because Sascha hasn’t played in months,” Erasmus said. “Same with Ethan, the same with Canan, the same with Krapipie. Andre was out for three weeks now.”
That lack of cohesion is unlikely to remain a problem for long.
With the Springboks now turning their attention towards Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry against New Zealand, Erasmus indicated that the era of constant experimentation and chopping and changing is coming to an end.
“When we [get to] the Greatest Rivalry, we’ll start steadying out on teams, on more or less the same kind of team, and not chop and change so much because it’s a new competition,” he said.
“We’re not happy that we played well, but we’re very happy that we grinded out a win,” Erasmus said.
“Even if we drew, we would have learned a lot about grinding out a win when the crowd is going crazy,” he said.
“The crowd was fantastic the way they encouraged Argentina in the last few minutes. For us to stay calm, we didn’t play well, but I thought we handled the pressure very well.”
That, ultimately, may have been the biggest takeaway from an ugly but valuable victory.
“It’s an opportunity to play important matches with close results, like in the World Cup,” Erasmus said.
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