VIDEO: The most rewarding part of Boks' Nations Series campaign
CARDIFF, WALES: Springbok head coach Rassie Erasmus has reflected on his team’s unbeaten five-week tour that ended with a record win in Cardiff.
They lost two of their 10 games between June and October before they embarked on one of their longest tours in a while.
Week after week, they had to battle red cards, fight through brutal contests with 14 men, sit through countless hours of hearings (for Lood de Jager and Franco Mostert), and still found a way to grow stronger with every outing.
They topped it off with a near-perfect display of physical dominance and attacking flair against Wales on Saturday.
The Springboks scored a total of 222 points across their five matches on tour, while only conceding 51 points in total against Japan (61-7), France (32-17), Italy (32-14), Ireland (24-13), and Wales (73-0)
South Africa ended their 2025 season at the top of the world rankings, while the 73-0 victory over Wales was a record home defeat for the Welsh team.
But for Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus, the most rewarding part of the tour was maintaining high team morale through the tough moments – all while blooding youngsters and strengthening the squad’s depth.
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“We wanted to have a long season. We’ve been together since June 3, so we’ve been together for five months now,” he explained at the post-match press conference.
“Sometimes that can become difficult, especially when you are losing like against Australia. It can split and divide a team.
“And we’ve been filtering players out – brilliant players – but who just didn’t serve the team, and in that regard, I think we are getting better.
“The whole team understands what we are trying to do, and that is the first positive for me,” he said, adding, “Winning 13 out of 15 games – and last year we lost two – it’s nice to build squad depth and change the way we do things.
“With Tony [Brown] coming in, and Jerry [Flannery] and Felix [Jones], we are trying to evolve and to keep on winning.
“So we are trying to find a balance between experience and squad depth, and I think in that regard we are ok.
“But it is seven months before we play again. Tonight, the United Rugby Championship teams are playing, and we will try to watch that.
“If you want to cover all your bases for the World Cup, you have to get better than we were.
“But hell, it was satisfying,” he conceded in the end.
