Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus was understandably satisfied with his team’s 54-7 win over the Barbarians that started the international season in front of 45 000 people at a wet DHL Stadium in Cape Town on Saturday, but he was careful not to get too carried away with it.
The Boks scored eight tries to one to record their biggest win over the composite team, but as Erasmus readily conceded, the wet weather that hovered around Cape Town for the entire buildup week and into the game itself was hardly conducive to the kind of rugby that the Barbarians are assembled to play.
“We played against a Barbarians team that built up in wet weather, they would have trained in wet weather all week and they tried to run the ball and the conditions weren’t suited to that,” said Erasmus.
“We are realistic about that. We played a team that probably had the worst conditions you can play in as a Barbarians team. But we are happy with the win. There were good hit-outs from players who haven’t played in a while. We also got through it without injuries. It was a good hit-out and now the test matches start (with the first test against Italy scheduled for next Saturday).”
LOOD MAKING UP FOR LOST TIME
There were some standout performances from players playing in the Bok jersey for the first time, with man of the match Vincent Tshituka the best of those, as well as players who had come back after time away, among those being Lood de Jager and his second-row partner Jean Kleyn, as well as Jean-Luc du Preez.
“Lood’s condition was considered career-ending (when he first suffered it), but we did fitness tests with him a few weeks ago and he came through exceptionally well,” said the Bok coach.
‘His body might be 32 or 33 years old, but he has had a few years of rest (due to the injury layoff) and I think that showed today. Jean-Luc was also good. Jean was also good at Lood’s partner. We had a heavy pack and were nervous how that might go in the weather we experienced, but it went well. Our pack was very good. I am glad the way Lood came through like he did.”
The Bok loose trio was up against a star-studded combination on the day, so it was no surprise to hear Erasmus praise the contribution of Tshituka.
“The back row the guys were up against were not boys. Peter O’Mahony and Sam Cane are very experienced players who have played a lot of international rugby, so Vincent did really well. I also thought No8 Jean-Luc (du Preez) was excellent. I thought the whole pack was overall okay. I also understand though that the opposition team didn’t have much cohesion. So we will be realistic about the position and the circumstances of this game.”
It was also a game that didn’t go off entirely without a blemish. Although the scrum started well, it struggled to dominate as a unit for much of the first half. Erasmus says he is looking forward to seeing how the Bok game can be improved for next week’s first test against Italy.
“Italy gave Namibia 70 points today. I know Namibia is not a first-tier nation, but we know that Italy have improved greatly. There are obviously certain things we can improve. We want to get better and that will be the focus of the next two matches, while the one against Georgia will also be a grind.
“If the weather was dry, we might have capitalised and executed on the line-breaks we had better than we did. We maybe (overplayed) a bit in the first half, but we chatted about that at halftime and we toned it down a bit in the second half. It was a good experience playing in this weather and we will use that experience if we get it again.”
DEANS LAUDS BOK AMBITION
As Erasmus intimated, the Barbarians were always going to be on a hiding to nothing in the conditions, and they made mistakes early that allowed the Boks to get ahead and after that they were never in with a chance of winning it. But the Barbarians coach Robbie Deans, who apart from guiding the Crusaders to several Super Rugby titles, was also an All Black assistant and a Wallaby head coach, said he was impressed with what he saw from the Boks.
“It is never pleasant to concede more than 50 points but it was always on the cards,” said Deans.
“We were playing the world champions and we were a little inaccurate early on and were punished for that. We would like to have displayed the Barbarians template but the fact that we didn’t get to run more than we did was down to possession. We just didn’t get enough ball. I felt we did well to get a few breaks with the little bit of ball we did get.
“We just couldn’t create any pressure, while the Boks are very good. There is no doubt the Boks are a lot more ambitious than they used to be. They can play any situation now, they’ve developed the ability to do that. Historically, they were one-dimensional, although very good at it, now they can play many different ways. They have got several players with a point of difference who can unlock a game.
He singled out Bok wing Cheslin Kolbe as the perfect example of what he was talking about.
“I have always admired how Cheslin plays, he has a very positive attitude and is actually a bit of a freak,” said Deans.
One big positive for the Boks is that there were no injuries of note as they head to Pretoria to start their preparations for next week’s first test of the year.