Rassie’s Bok verdict: ‘Not perfect, but some good stuff to build on’

Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus praised the old heads in the team for pulling their side through in their 48-7 Rugby Championship hammering of Argentina at the Mbombela Stadium on Saturday night.

Erasmus admitted that it wasn’t a perfect performance, despite the lopsided scoreline, with the Boks made to graft hard at various stages of the game, before pulling away during the final 10 minutes of the match.

In the end it secured an almost perfect Rugby Championship title, with the Boks winning five of their six games, and their only loss a week earlier in Santiago being by just one point.

“I don’t think it was spectacular. When you get to these crunch games it is the older heads and the calm heads that sometimes pull it through,” explained Erasmus after the game.

“While we are trying to play a more attacking game, we still want to be physical, have scrum dominance, and our line-out worked very well tonight (Saturday).

“Argentina tired trying to stop our tight five all the time, it was a bit like slow poison. I did not expect that sort of scoreline tonight because they are very difficult to play against. Things were really tight in the beginning and they kept us out.

“But we did not want to stand back, it was all about temperament and leadership for us. Argentina is physical, nippy, and great on attack. We played brilliantly in stages, much better than we did last weekend (in Santiago). It was not perfect, but there was some really good stuff to build on.”

Springbok growth

The growth of the Bok team over the current international season will really please the management group, especially with them building towards the 2027 Rugby World Cup in Australia.

From the opening game against Wales at Twickenham, through the Incoming Series against Ireland and Portugal, and over the Rugby Championship, the Boks have used an incredible 49 players, while giving many of those players multiple games to play in.

Despite making many changes to the match 23 after every game, the Boks remained incredibly consistent, with them winning eight games, while their two losses, against Ireland and Argentina, were both by just a single point.

“The pressure has been on the players to gel quickly, and I must give credit to the coaching staff and all the backroom team and the guys for keeping on believing despite all the changes. We’ve used 49 players this year and 35 in the Rugby Championship,” explained Erasmus.

“Overall, I’m very happy. Happy for Manie (Libbok, who missed a potentially match winning penalty in Santiago the week before) and happy for South Africa. But the end-of-year tour is now our target and going through that undefeated.”

The Springboks end-of-year-tour takes place in November, when they will travel to the UK and face Scotland, Wales and England to close out their international season.