Brutally honest Rassie says Springboks were ’embarrassing’
The national coach takes first and foremost the blame for his troops' substandard performance in Mendoza.
Rassie Erasmus (Head Coach) of South Africa during the South African national rugby team captains run at Jonsson Kings Park on August 17, 2018 in Durban, South Africa. (Photo by Steve Haag/Gallo Images)
Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus described his troops’ 32-19 defeat to Argentina in Mendoza as “embarrassing”.
One week after suffering a 34-21 defeat at the hands of the Springboks in Durban, the resurgent Pumas produced a physical performance to snap an 11-match losing streak in front of an ecstatic crowd at the Estadio Malvinas Argentinas.
Erasmus was brutally honest in his assessment of the Springboks’ poor performance: “It was embarrassing and not the kind of performance you expect to see from the Springboks.
“We made only one change to the starting team from last week, when we dominated them. We have to point the fingers to ourselves, firstly as coaches and then as players, and we will have to fix it.”
Erasmus said the travelling to Argentina was definitely not a factor: “We travelled a day later and in the second half we outplayed them because we were the fresher team.
“We were playing better rugby in the second half but we just didn’t make use of our opportunities.
“I’m not going to look for positives after a performance like that. We have no excuses, we knew exactly what to expect, we prepared for it but we just didn’t handle it.”
The Boks return on Tuesday and will have the week off before re-assembling on Saturday for the tour to Australia and New Zealand.
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