BOKS might have fallen for now, but shall bounce back.
Following a dramatic 33-16 defeat by the All Blacks in the opening test of Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry, at Ellis Park this past Saturday, it was a matter of when will Boks lose a match and boom, it happened due to handling errors.
Dramatic in that Boks were penalized and had to play with two players’ short in the second stanza of the game that eventually threw the team of out steam.
The packed to capacity Ellis Park had become a fortress for the Boks.
NZ is one of the world’s best and they showed grit against RWC champs on Saturday.
“We have been in many catastrophic situations in our lives,” remarked coach Rassie Erasmus.
“We lost the first Test against the British & Irish Lions [in 2021] and everyone said it was a catastrophe.
“We lost the first pool game against New Zealand in the World Cup [in 2019] and everyone said that was catastrophic, so we have been in a lot of catastrophic situations.
“We’re now in a position where if we want to win the series we have to win three games on the trot. So, without doubt, it puts them in a very good position which they thoroughly deserve.
“Now we have to go to Cape Town and try and win there. If we do, it’s all level, but we still have to win three matches in a row. I wouldn’t say it’s catastrophic because there is a way out, and that’s winning three matches on the trot.”
“We didn’t play well. Against a class team like New Zealand, if you don’t convert, they give you a proper hiding,” he said.
Erasmus picked out some key moments as being turning points: the Boks trailed by three points (19-16) in the 58th minute and were pressuring the All Blacks’ scrum when they conceded a penalty on their own feed.
“We were thoroughly beaten by a team that is now No 1 in the world – it’ll be nice to go into the next game as the underdogs,” he joked.
“I think we were dominant in the scrums, but it doesn’t help you if you’re dominant in one or two parts of the game. The All Blacks were more dominant in most parts of the game.
“I’m not going to butter it up with that cliché and say we’re going to learn from this and get better. We didn’t need to learn from this; we knew what we had to do on the day – we didn’t do it.”
He continued:” With hindsight, there were a lot of things we didn’t convert; I think there were two or three big moments when we let the game go away from us. Not because we wanted to or because we wanted to make those errors but because New Zealand forced those on to us by being really intense and sharp.”
It must be said the injuries that has plagued the Boks team does not augur well either; with ‘Bomb Squad’ no existent.
For now its back to the drawing board for the boys- with three Test matches ahead.
Their second assignment is in Cape Town on Saturday- August 29.
All Blacks face 10bet Lions at Ellis Park on Tuesday night in the final match against a franchise team, whom they’ve all beaten thus far.
It can’t be that the visitors outsmarted our franchises and the national team, it’s highly unacceptable!
Image provided (NZ scoring another try against Boks to win their first of four Test games).
