Rassie Erasmus has described the 33-16 defeat to the All Blacks at Ellis Park on Saturday as “catastrophic” in his post match interviews.
The Springboks head coach was speaking to the media when he compared the defeat to some other defeats in his tenure that had also sent the media into a frenzy.
Practically Erasmus also described that they would be need to win the final three tests in order to win the series and it is clear that this will be the head coaches goal as they try to maintain their current dominance of World Rugby.
What other ‘catastrophic’ instances did he describe?
The pressure from the South African media for the Springboks to be perfect is obviously felt by Erasmus in this case as he pointed towards previous instances where the media have left questions against his former side. These instances were the opening round defeat to the All Blacks in the 2019 World Cup and then defeat to the Lions in the 2021 tour of South Africa.
I think Erasmus chose these instances to mention as they were clear times where the Springboks have lost early in a tournament or tour and gone undefeated the rest of the way.
In 2019, the Springboks lost 23-13 to the All Blacks and would go on to win the tournament comfortable cantering to a 32-12 victory over England in the final.
The 2021 Lions tour started with defeat in Cape Town, but the Springboks would come back to win the second test comfortably and win the final test by three to pick up a strange series victory in front of no crowd.
What areas do the Springboks need to work on?
Looking ahead to the next Test, Rassie Erasmus must focus on refining what functioned while ruthlessly tightening South Africa’s discipline. The set-piece foundation is undeniably solid; the Springbok scrum asserted complete dominance throughout, yet crucially failed to reflect that upper hand on the scoreboard. An illustrative moment came after stringing together multiple scrum penalties, only to surrender the pressure when an illegal shift in the drive offered the All Blacks an easy exit. Moving forward, South Africa must capitalise on the destructive back-row carry metres provided by Jasper Wiese and Paul de Villiers—who consistently broke the gainline in the opening half—and drastically sharpen their clinical edge inside the opposition 22, where returning under a point per entry simply will not cut it in elite Test rugby. Ball security remains another non-negotiable priority. Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu looked loose at times, coughing up possession when forcing offloads in contact. Rassie has put the young fly-half on the bench and has chosen the more methodical Handre Pollard, who will prioritise the teams territory and play style, rather than kicking.
