Scotland coach Gregor Townsend didn’t hesitate for an instant when he was asked at the post-match press conference if he thought the Springboks deserved their status as the world’s best team and he also didn’t have to think too hard over why he said that.
“Yes,” was his unambiguous answer before he continued. “They showed again today that they have huge depth. They won a number of games in November when they were down to 14 men and they found a way to win today. I would like to think they knew they were up against a serious opponent today, but credit must go to them for finding a way to win.”
Townsend’s comments on a day when his team brought their A game and actually played out of their socks at times before succumbing 42-28 to the world champions were spot on. It wasn’t only a game where the Boks went in decidedly under-strength against a team ranked No 5 in the world, it was also a day when the rated opponents pitched and stretched their defensive system when there had been a huge reshuffle to the Bok backline.
As Townsend intimated, the Boks were under huge pressure at times because of the way they had to reconfigure their team due to injury, just like last November, when they had to think and plan on the hoof to overcome Italy in Turin and France in Paris in games where they lost locks Franco Mostert and Lood de Jager respectively relatively early in the piece.
But there was also something else that shone through under the Loftus lights that summed up Erasmus’ bravery and just why he is so far ahead of his peers as the No 1 coach in the world and why this game was such a great way for him to celebrate his record 55th cap as Bok coach. This was always going to be an experimental game for the Boks, one where the players were thrown into the deep end to learn to swim, or to see if they could survive without drowning, and Erasmus didn’t change that approach when the adverse circumstances of Ben-Jason Dixon’s yellow card and Ethan Hooker’s injury arose.
He could easily have sent Quan Horn on in his regular position of fullback, or on the wing, thus enabling the Boks to continue with the more settled combination he had started the game with, with Handre Pollard continuing at flyhalf and Damian Willemse continuing at centre, positions both players are more used to. That would have meant minimal disruption, and not the big shifts in position that he did go for.
STUCK TO HIS GUNS
But Erasmus stuck to his guns - he wanted to see how Pollard would go at inside centre, and how Horn would go with another opportunity to play at flyhalf, and that was what he did.
“We wanted to see how certain players would go under pressure against a top team and this was our opportunity,” said Erasmus afterwards.
“With respect to Georgia, or a team like that, we needed to see it tested against a top team. With respect to England, we considered Scotland a tougher opponent than England, so we always knew this game was going to be tough. We saw how they took Argentina apart last week, and how they beat both England and France quite comfortably in the Six Nations.
“But if we don’t try the new players and the different (alternative) combinations we are working on, when are we going to do it? Handre (Pollard) has been running at centre in training for the last few weeks, and this was our chance to see how he would go there.”
Indeed, while Pollard himself was the first to admit after his man-of-the-match performance that all the reshuffling contributed to the defensive misses that let hard-running Scotland back into the game just when the Boks appeared to have shut them out, it worked. And Horn also made some telling contributions.
That’s what makes Erasmus stand out as a coach, his willingness to go where anyone else would fear to tread both in terms of the initial selection, with 10 changes made to the side that won 45-21 against England the previous week, as well as his willingness to risk defeat in order to advance towards the greater goal of having all bases covered when next year’s World Cup takes place in Australia.
“We knew that a lot of our supporters would be upset if we lost, and obviously we don’t want to lose, and any loss for the Boks is a bad thing. But we feel that partly through you guys (the media) putting the message out there, the public generally understand why we make the selections we do and what today’s game was all about for us.”
IDENTIFICATION OF FLAWS MADE IT THE PERFECT 80 MINUTES
Indeed, in many ways it was the perfect 80 minutes for the Boks, in the sense that they were severely tested by the Scots, who finished third in the recent Six Nations and appear to be on the rise, and that has left them with clear work-ons ahead of the biggest event of this rugby year - the Greatest Rivalry Series against the All Blacks.
Scotland these days are arguably as good an attacking team as New Zealand when they have momentum, and some of their handling and running, switches of direction, and in particular what was produced by their captain Sione Tuilpoluto, scrumhalf Craig White and flyhalf Finn Russell was nothing short of sublime.
But the Boks will know they have to improve their defence significantly before next month’s challenge arrives, and some players would have passed the test for Erasmus and some who failed.
Like he was last week, Paul de Villiers was brilliant on the flank, and Cobus Wiese produced a monstrous effort before unfortunately he was injured before halftime. Erasmus would have been pleased with his contribution, but would have wanted to see if he could sustain his high work rate much deeper into the game.
LOUW MADE A DIFFERENCE
Evan Roos scored a try but Erasmus hinted afterwards that Elrigh Louw might have surpassed him when he came on in the second half and helped wrestle the momentum back to the Boks after they had lost their way in the second half of the first period after going into a 14-0 lead. And although there was that yellow card, Dixon was again a massive presence in the period he came onto the field and his ability to be equally good at lock and blindside flank gave Erasmus exactly what he is looking for.
Embrose Papier was pulled from the field early when Erasmus realised he needed more experience at the back and was short of being flawless in his performance but nonetheless showed just how dangerous he is as a runner, with his impressive first try of the game being an important score from the Bok confidence viewpoint.
Damian Willemse reminded us that he is as good at inside centre as he is at fullback. And Zach Porthen was again an immense presence when he came on, and Jan-Hendrik Wessels and Nthuthuko Mchunu, who was only introduced very late and you’d imagine is due to start next week against Wales, also helped build on the scrumming platform laid by Wilco Louw and company in the first half. Johan Grobbelaar, as the starting hooker, missed some early lineouts but made some crucial turnovers and was also generally a bullocking presence on a day when the Boks scored six tries to four and thus racked up a full house of log points to take into their final game of this phase of the Nations Championship against Wales in Durban next Saturday.