Rassie Erasmus warned that the Springboks would have to improve for the third Castle Double Malt Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry Test in Johannesburg on Saturday despite a 33-26 victory (halftime 24-14) over New Zealand to level the series 1-1 at DHL Stadium in Cape Town.
The Boks were outscored four tries to three but a flawless kicking performance from Cheslin Kolbe with four penalty goals to add to three conversions of tries by Jesse Kriel, Damian de Allende and Siya Kolisi clinched a hard-fought victory.
“They are a brilliant team and there are definitely things we must fix,” said Erasmus.
“I don’t want to be technical about the edge defence, but they have really smart players, and they are two classes up from what they were last year.
“The one thing we immediately agreed in the changing room is that this is a really good New Zealand team. This week we did a lot of things much better, and I can tell you now that this is not the same New Zealand team we played last year.
“They attacked with width, they got offloads away, they’re really well coached and they’ve got athletes who can beat you on a dime. A couple of more phases at the end and it could have been a draw.”
The Springboks took the lead with a try in the first two minutes and were never headed in delivering a victory to relieve some of the pressure after last week’s 33-16 defeat in Johannesburg.
“We 100% understand the pressure and why people are upset because no one wants to support a losing team,” said Erasmus.
“No one in South Africa wants to support anything that’s not working. A loss here and there doesn’t make you a losing team immediately, but it’s when you go on a losing run that the pressure comes on. But of course, I felt the pressure, I think the players will tell you I felt the pressure. I was nervous.
“We must make sure we’re not comfortable after this win and think we’re all good again because there were things we didn’t do well.”
Erasmus explained that the late switch of front rows - starting with the trio that had been named on the replacements’ bench - was due to the drier weather conditions.
“The closer we came to the game the weather was said to be dry, so we felt that a front row that was a little bit lighter would be better on a dry field,” he said.
The match marked the 100th cap for Pieter-Steph du Toit who took over the captaincy once Kolisi was replaced in the second half.
Du Toit said: “I started at Newlands and now to be here at Cape Town Stadium was very special for me; being able to have all my family here. I’m just very grateful for how things played out.”
The third Test takes place at the FNB Stadium at Nasrec in Johannesburg on Saturday (kick-off 17h10), live on SuperSport.
