Despite all the criticism after Eden Park and of his team selection for the Wellington sequel, Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus was feeling magnanimous after their record-breaking 43-10 victory over the All Blacks on Saturday.
He could afford to be because the stunning second-half display from a largely untried combination not only thoroughly vanquished their greatest rivals but has put them in a great position of strength for the rest of the year.
Erasmus declined the opportunity to dish out a few “I told you so’s” in the wake of inflicting New Zealand’s biggest ever defeat anywhere. Instead, he said the quality of the performance was proof of the belief that existed in the squad as a whole.
“The scoreline is nice, but it’s for us more about what we wanted to achieve. They have beaten us 57-0 before so we know what it feels like in their changeroom ...
“We’re very happy with the performances but we didn’t do this to prove people wrong, we do it for ourselves and for SA. The belief in the team is the most important thing. We’ve chopped and changed all year ...
“After the haka, we had a quick chat and we said that the people back home trust us to do our best. It’s not about proving them wrong but to keep them believing in us. People say we are building depth and some people say we are taking chances. It’s a 24-hour job with social media and we keep telling the players that they must keep believing in the coaches and each other. I must fall on my sword if I’m trying to please other people.
“I have not won in New Zealand much in my life. There are so many opinions, you make mistakes and then that leads to so much criticism, but I never thought we were taking a big chance today. The All Blacks had eight players with less than 10 caps in their squad, we only had three. It’s about building and giving players opportunities.”
Wasteful first half
The final scoreline was made even more astounding by the fact that the Springboks were terribly wasteful in the first half, spurning half-a-dozen clear try-scoring chances.
Erasmus again pointed to the belief within his team when things were not going their way.
“I think we’re getting better, but in the first 30 minutes there were still lots of errors. But we don’t want the players to be robotic, just mechanical in what they do.
“We were on their try line for a while and then we scored a try, but there was a knock-on at the breakdown. But they didn’t lose belief even when they went 7-0 up.
“But then again, we didn’t capitalise, so we had a big chat at halftime and we told them to fire their shots, eventually it will come. You need a few things to go your way, but you must keep believing.
“And then we spoke afterwards in the changeroom about how we haven’t actually achieved anything yet. We still have to play an energetic Argentina side in two weeks. We will have a good time tonight, but the reality is New Zealand will regroup and Argentina will be looking at our scrum and lineout. The reality is tomorrow is a new day,” Erasmus said.
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