Rassie Erasmus says the defeat to Argentina should not have come down to Manie Libbok’s last-minute penalty, after the Springboks twice surrendered leads in Santiago del Estero yesterday.
Libbok missed a penalty from a range of around 40m in the final minute of play as the Springboks suffered a 29-28 defeat to Argentina.
Having raced into a 17-0 lead in the opening 15 minutes, the world champions conceded four tries in the space of 20 minutes to find themselves trailing at the break.
While penalties from Handré Pollard and Libbok reclaimed a two-point lead, the game ultimately came down to a battle of the kickers with Tomos Albernoz holding his composure, while Libbok shanked his attempt.
“Not just for us to win the game, but for him personally, I was really hoping that he kicked that kick,” Erasmus said. “He has been kicking well this whole week and kicked so well in the warm-up. He slotted everything, but that’s pressure.
“I don’t think the game should have come down to the wire, with one man kicking it over. There were lots of opportunities where we lost the ball in lineouts, giving away penalties in their 22.
“It was not a great display by us. Manie is going to get a lot of flak, we all know that. He must find a way to manage that. I am sure we will all get a lot of flak for him missing that kick. But it shouldn’t have been on the last kick for us to win. We should have done it much earlier.”
Erasmus said he felt the game shifted in favour of the hosts when Kurt-Lee Arendse was yellow-carded for a high tackle, with Los Pumas ruthlessly exploiting the open space out wide.
“We did start well. I am always nervous when we start so well. We tend to be a team that counter-attacks from behind. We should have put them away from that start,” Erasmus explained.
“Unfortunately we got the yellow card. Argentina exploited that really well. They got outside our defence really well. They scored two tries while Kurt-Lee was off. So I think that was the momentum shift.
“There are no excuses for the second half. We were 15 men. It was a closely battled game. We never saw ourselves as the favourites, because we left a few guys at home. We wanted a few guys to experience playing in Argentina, but we desperately wanted to win.
“Argentina deserved the win. They played better on the day than us. It’s nice pressure on us again now. There’s a lot that we didn’t achieve today.”
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