Springbock coach Rassie Erasmus partly took the blame for his team’s poor‚ uninspiring start on defence in Saturday’s win in the first Test against England at Ellis Park.
The Boks slumped to a 24-3 deficit in the first quarter but rallied to record a 42-39 win over the Red Roses.
Erasmus admitted that England‚ with three flyhalves in their backline‚ surprised him tactically and his team was caught short.
“We thought they were gonna kick‚” he said.
“I didn’t think we were gonna have to defend.
“They started running in their 22. Tactically I got it wrong a little bit.
“Also the way they attacked was wider than our 13 and straight into our wings.
“These days most teams defend high on the outside. We trained that way as well.
“We went up hard but didn’t get enough width. We had two young wingers winning their first caps with an outside centre on his second cap.
“The moment Siya [Kolisi] and the guys got that right it went really well.”
Despite the ballooning scoreline against them‚ the Springboks kept their composure and crucially‚ they did not panic.
“I was obviously very nervous‚” said new captain Siya Kolisi.
“We all took charge and told the guys to calm down.
“We knew that wasn’t what we worked on during the week. The new caps didn’t panic.”The coach concurred.
“Last week wasn’t the start we wanted and this wasn’t the home start we wanted. I was worried‚” said Erasmus.
“There were a lot of young guys on that park against a lot of experienced England players. It could have gone bad really for us.
“Well done to Siya [Kolisi]‚ Duane [Vermeulen]‚ Beast [Mtawarira] and Handre [Pollard] and everybody who played a bit of a senior role in the team. We only scraped through‚” said Erasmus.
Meanwhile, the symbolism of Kolisi becoming the first black Springbok captain and doing so at Ellis Park wasn’t lost on England coach Eddie Jones.
Jones‚ the articulate‚ and sometimes acerbic Australian‚ has been gracious in his remarks about the country since his team arrived last week.
“Full congratulations to South Africa and the country” Jones said.
“It was a big day. Obviously it is a big‚ big moment for the country to have Kolisi as captain and to win his first game at Ellis Park.
“Whilst I’m desperately unhappy to have lost the game I think it is a great thing for rugby generally and for the game here in particular.
“To have the first black captain to win at Ellis Park‚ the spiritual home land of the Springboks is an enormously symbolic thing for South African rugby and it shows transformation is working and that he’s probably going to be a good captain.
“I hope he’s not too good in this series.”
Kolisi was a little more detached from the moment.
“To be honest I haven’t had that moment yet‚” said Kolisi when asked if he had absorbed the significance of the moment.
“The most important thing was for me to pitch up and for us to play as a team. Maybe I’ll have that moment after the last game in Cape Town‚” said the captain.
Jones was revelling in the moment and the spectacle served up by the Boks and England who ran each other ragged.
“I thought it was a wonderful game of rugby‚” said Jones.
“In the first 20 minutes we were at times brilliant. Maybe we got seduced by the game.
“That made for uncharacteristic individual errors which allowed South Africa back in the game.”
Jones believes his team can bounce back in the second Test.
“They got a ‘get out of jail card’ and sometimes you don’t get that again. They know they were in a helluva game.
“They did well to get home and deserved victory. They’ll get confidence out of this. We’ll take confidence from the game.”
England will prepare for Saturday’s second Test in Bloemfontein with a relatively clean bill of health. “Tom Curry has cramps‚” said Jones.
“Elliot Daly has a slight leg contusion and everyone else is pretty good. For a high velocity game we came out pretty well.”..