Fifteen bad minutes. That is what cost the Springboks a chance of a historic victory at Eden Park against the All Blacks.
Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus said that while he was proud of the fightback in the 27-20 loss, the two early tries they gave the All Blacks ultimately cost them.
“The one positive is that we’re at least still in the running to win the Rugby Championship,” Erasmus said.
“Overall, if you look at the 80 minutes, we had 15 really bad minutes which led to a little disbelief. We came out after halftime with a bit more belief, and I thought the subs really injected some energy into the game.
“We’re all very disappointed and we realise people will be very gatvol of us and that we’ll take plenty of heat for this one, but we will be back next week.”
Erasmus said that the team will make changes ahead of the return game in Wellington.
“Seven days later, we have the opportunity to beat New Zealand and stay in the mix for the Rugby Championship.
“It’s like any other loss. It was away from home against the world’s No 1 team, but it doesn’t make the loss any easier to take. Before this game we thought we’d go with more or less the same team next week, but we’ll definitely make a few changes.”
Erasmus said the Boks had got it right with the five-three split on the bench, but had left themselves too much to do in the second half.
“We were 14 points behind after two easy tries, and we found ourselves chasing our own tails, and that was in the rain as well,” said Erasmus.
“I thought the replacements brought energy, and we fought back well, but it’s tough to win if you are 14 points behind.” We made two individual errors and they scored tries, and the other times they had to grind, so it’s frustrating.
“It’s not always the same players making the mistakes, and some of them were stupid errors. But as coaches, we pick the players, and as management, we have to sometimes put up our hands and say we got it wrong.”
EDEN PARK HOODOO
The Bok coach said the weight of the Eden Park hoodoo and the history of being unbeaten for 50 games at the ground by the All Blacks had not placed more pressure on the side.
“If we had won, we would probably have mentioned the history, but they managed to maintain their record at Eden Park and well done to them for that,” said Erasmus.
“It was a great challenge for us, but we didn’t achieve it. That said, we have another chance to face them next week, and that will be our focus next week.”
The Boks will face the All Blacks next week in Wellington in what is now a must-win match if they want to have any chance of retaining the Rugby Championship.