Springbok victory wasn’t to be, but we can build on it

Close, but no cigar. That’s how the battered and bruised Springboks will feel after narrowly losing their final Rugby Championship Test 32-30 to the All Blacks at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday night.

They’ll look back at a Rugby Championship that could have turned out so differently after brilliant wins over the All Blacks in Wellington, Argentina in Durban and the Wallabies in Port Elizabeth, but a poor performance against the Pumas in Mandoza, and narrow losses to Australia and New Zealand in Brisbane and Pretoria respectively.

There’s no doubt they have made massive strides since coach Rassie Erasmus took over less than a year ago, yet many questions are still hanging over them with the end-of- year UK tour looming, and less than a year until next year’s World Cup in Japan.

Saturday was heartbreaking for the Boks and their fans, after having controlled the most part of the game against the world champions, only to let slip a 30-13 lead with the last 20 minutes of the match remaining.

Many point to poor tactics, and questionable decision-making when it came to substitutions when the All Blacks looked dead and buried. But in fairness to Erasmus and his coaching staff, a number of the choices were forced due to injuries and the Boks having nothing left in the tank as the minutes slipped away.

However, what has emerged since the loss and a second-place finish in the campaign is that our depth is still a concern ahead of the 2019 World Cup. We just simply don’t have the firepower off the bench that the All Blacks possess, and they came up agonisingly short.

“I’m happy with the progress, the players are starting to understand their roles and are starting to believe in themselves,” said Erasmus. “The fans are coming back into the stadium and we want rugby to stay a big thing and I really felt that today our supporters are not stupid, they can see there is something to build on.”

Let’s hope the players and management will learn from the Test going forward, and this new fight is the start of something special.

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