Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus said his team’s unexpected defeat by Australia in a Castle Lager Rugby Championship match at Ellis Park was “really awful” and he admitted he was embarrassed to appear at the post-match press conference.
“We were really awful, and they were very good, but we made them better,” said Erasmus after the 38-22 defeat.
“We can find excuses, but they gutsed it out and, yes, we gave them one or two soft tries with an intercept here and a loose pass there, but overall, they were just better than us on the day.
“They beat us in most departments. We didn’t scrum them, they beat us in the lineouts, and they bullied us at the breakdown after Siya Kolisi went off and Marco van Staden had to go off for an HIA.
“We as coaches got it terribly wrong” - Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus takes full responsibility for their 38-22 loss to the Wallabies and admitted they got bullied by their opponents.#RugbyChampionship pic.twitter.com/IHunAOg3zt
— EWN_Sport (@EWN_Sport) August 16, 2025
“We as coaches got it terribly wrong and we have to look at ourselves before we point fingers at the players.
“From now until next Saturday, we’re going to take a lot of flak, but we take credit when we do well, and we have to take the flak when we do badly.
“I’m saying it with a smile, not because I’m happy, but I’m saying it with a smile because that’s the reality of rugby and we’re really disappointed and we’re feeling bad for our players and we’re feeling bad for our supporters, and for overall what we produced on the field.”
Erasmus admitted that the team for next week’s return match at DHL Stadium in Cape Town had already been picked, but that he may now reconsider.
“We have always said that if we don’t play well and we lose momentum – and we did both, we played badly and lost momentum – we might change our thinking,” he said.
“We had a chat now in the change room and that may now change, but we want to get Ethan Hooker, Canan Moodie and Morne van den Berg and a few others a start, but we’ll have to rethink.”
Australia win at Emirates Airline Park for the first time in the professional era 🇦🇺💥#SSRugby | #TheRugbyChampionship pic.twitter.com/Q4rdCDiWXo
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Erasmus also admitted that the physicality of the Wallabies had caused problems that the Boks failed to overcome: “I don’t think they tactically outsmarted us, but they physically dominated us, and the interesting thing is that the longer the game went on they were supposed to struggle, but it just shows what Wallaby coach Joe Schmidt is building there.
“The saddest thing is that they took five points, and we didn’t fight back to take a bonus point. I can butter this up and make excuses, but we were really terrible on the day.”
Erasmus rued missed chances and said he would have to review the messaging the players were being given.
“Grant Williams had so many breaks where he almost got away, and Manie had so many breaks where he almost got away the same with Edwill and that changes games,” said Erasmus.
Tom Wright wraps it up for the Wallabies 🇦🇺🏉
— SuperSport Rugby (@SSRugby) August 16, 2025
They win at Ellis Park for the first time since 1963 📚#SSRugby | #TheRugbyChampionship pic.twitter.com/XqJ99vvps9
“When you’re 22-0 up and there’s lots of space and the player thinks ‘let’s take a chance’, and that’s coaching; that’s us. Telling the guys let’s build an innings, 22-0 is not winning the game.
“It was a bad loss in a bad way – not against a bad team – and we didn’t have the fight until the end; there was a stage where I felt our heads were dropping and our shoulders were slumping and that bothered.
“But we had a quick chat, and everyone is very disappointed and how you see the game and how our supporters will feel but tactically we totally overplayed every time we thought something was on.”
The second match against Australia takes place at DHL Stadium in Cape Town on Saturday, kick off at 17h10.