BITTER PILL TO SWALLOW
SPRINGBOKS: AGONISING DEFEAT A VALUABLE LESSON AHEAD OF WORLD CUP
Only one point between SA, Kiwis in last three matches.
As crestfallen as the Springboks were after their last-minute loss to the All Blacks in Pretoria at the weekend, they were trying to paint the 32-30 defeat as just a hitch, and maybe even a blessing in disguise, on their road to the ultimate goal – next year’s World Cup.
There is no doubt there have been massive lessons under Rassie Erasmus, and for a team that lost 57-0 to New Zealand just a year ago, they will be better for the experience of both finishing the job in Wellington and not getting it done at Loftus Versfeld.
“Obviously it’s a tough pill to swallow, but that’s how rugby goes sometimes. We could have won, so now we’ll go through the review and see what went wrong in the last 10 minutes. We dominated a world-class side, the number one team in the world, for 70 minutes. We’ve got to learn from the loss but we can also take a lot of confidence from it as well,” centre Damian de Allende said after the match.
“In Wellington we had to defend a lot, but tonight we felt we put them under a lot of pressure with ball in hand, it was nice to see the guys have a go. It’s definitely a building block for us, a good thing to go through before the World Cup. You don’t want to go through a game like that there and not know how to deal with it.”
Erasmus echoed the sentiment that the Springboks are a team on the up, and denied that the late defeat was because he had messed up his substitutions.
“I didn’t feel the game was won, the All Blacks have shown many times when they are down and out, that New Zealand culture and spirit to fight back. I was never comfortable, but people do always ask when we are going to give the bench a chance. Willie (le Roux) was concussed and did not pass his test and Faf (de Klerk) had cramp. So it was the two of them at the same time and in big decision-making positions.
“But the guys who came on would have learned so much. I will never blame the subs, if that was the problem then I blame myself because the amount of gametime I’ve given them has not been as I’ve wished, but there’ve been pressure situations and we’ve wanted to win. I have to be so careful about saying there are positive things after a loss, but I really believe the rivalry between us and the All Blacks is back.
“Nobody is sure who is going to win before the game. There have just been a single point between us in the last three games, so that gives me hope. I’m definitely happy with the progress and growth, the players are starting to understand their roles and starting to believe in themselves a bit more,” Erasmus said.
Althought his efforts weren’t enough to see the Springboks home against the All Blacks at Loftus, fullback Willie le Roux was nonetheless brilliant in his 50th Test, writes Ken Borland.