Springboks coach Rassie Erasmus was understandably not a happy man after the defeat to the All Blacks in a Rugby Championship blockbuster Down Under at Eden Park yesterday morning.
South Africa fell short after succumbing to a rather frustrating 24-17 defeat in the All-Blacks’ fortress in Auckland.
New Zealand are now on top of the Castle Lager Rugby Championship standings with 10 points, followed by Australia with nine, and the Boks and Argentina in positions four and five, respectively, with five points apiece.
Erasmus’ side had a dreadful opening 15 minutes, as their sloppiness resulted in two tries from the All Blacks in quick succession to head into the break with a 14-3 lead.
“We made two individual errors, and they scored tries, and the other times they had to grind, so it’s frustrating,” Erasmus said after the game.
“It’s not always the same players making the mistakes, and some of them were stupid errors. But as coaches, we pick the players, and as management, we must sometimes put up our hands and say we got it wrong.
“We were 14 points behind after two easy tries, and we found ourselves chasing our own tails, and that was in the rain as well.
“I thought the replacements brought energy, and we fought back well, but it’s tough to win if you are 14 points behind.”
Boks captain Jessie Kriel, who was skipper for the first time against New Zealand, echoed Erasmus’ sentiments.
“We played badly for a few minutes, and it cost us, but we’ll have another go next week, and hopefully things will go better”.
The Boks will have another chance to return to winning ways against the All Blacks when they collide at the Wellington Regional Stadium this coming Saturday.
