VIDEO: Rassie gets selection 'answers' after scrappy win
IN THE SPOTLIGHT: Springbok head coach Rassie Erasmus has taken a group of 37 players to Bloemfontein on Sunday for a final camp before he announces his World Cup squad.
From that group an unlucky six players will be cut.
“We will choose the final squad of 31 from that group,” said Erasmus.
“There were one or two players that had question marks over them and there were some where we got confirmation and others where we had doubts and things clarified. But we will have a proper sit down tomorrow [Sunday].
“I certainly think we got some answers today [Saturday].”
READ: Three Boks to miss World Cup
Erasmus breathed a sigh of relief and confirmed that his 2019 Springbok squad continued a trajectory of progress following a 24-18 victory over Argentina in at Loftus Versfeld in Pretoria on Saturday.
Sibusiso Nkosi scored both the Boks’ tries, while Elton Jantjies kicked five from six as he contributed a conversion and four penalty goals.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LqpcDuIjgE0
‘It’s nice to learn when you’re winning’
Erasmus admitted that the result was a case of winning ugly, but that the game had gone pretty much to expectations.
“All week, I knew it was going to be a grind and that it wasn’t going to be a free-flowing game,” he said.
“Argentina could have beaten New Zealand this season with that maul at the end, and they lost to Australia by six and they could have won that game as well, and I knew they were going to come for us.
“They were very well prepared and played so well and if they had won I would have been sitting here saying they deserved to win. I wouldn’t have moaned if they had – they played really well.
“But it’s nice to learn when you’re winning. We had some things confirmed and learnt other things about combinations.
“We did some good things and some bad things. The bad things were giving away stupid penalties and the intercept pass – not that it was Cobus Reinach’s or one person’s fault – and letting them off the hook at times.
“But we ground it out and I was pleased with the last 15 minutes and the way we finished.”
