VIDEO: Rassie tries to avoid 'arrogant' tag after latest victory
SPOTLIGHT: Springbok head coach Rassie Erasmus did not want to sound “arrogant” when describing his team’s win against England at Twickenham on Saturday.
The world champions outscored their opponents by four tries to two to record a 29-20 win.
Wing Cheslin Kolbe was the star of the show with his all-round performance which included two excellent five-pointers.
It was the Boks’ second consecutive victory in the November Test window, ahead of their final clash of the year against Wales in Cardiff next weekend.
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“It was tough and it was the same last week [against Scotland],” said Erasmus.
“One could probably say again that the score does not reflect how close the game was.
“We missed a penalty kick here and there and both teams had tries disallowed. It was competitive as hell.
“We had some disruptions with Ox Nche’s injury by not being able to do our normal swap around when we try to get the fresh legs on.”
Erasmus added: “We were certainly not happy with the performance, but if you beat England by nine points, it could come across as arrogant to say that.
“It wasn’t fantastic but we are content with the result.”
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Erasmus also praised his team’s character for keeping England out after they were reduced to 14 men.
Replacement prop Gerhard Steenekamp received a yellow card in the 68th minute for his team’s repeated maul infringements.
“I definitely think it is experience,” said the Bok coach.
“The team that we put out there played a lot of important games. Most of them played in the last match against Argentina in the Rugby Championship.
“Getting cards is not something that we are proud of, but hanging in there while we have a card definitely takes some character and good planning from the coaches.
“If Vincent [Koch] didn’t have the ability to go to loosehead, which we marked on the team sheet, we would’ve gone to uncontested scrums and had to play with 13 men.
“We would’ve struggled to keep them out if that happened because they were really doing well.
“The players on the field were cool and calm and handled it with experience.”
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