Two or three error-inducing moments were the difference between South Africa winning and losing the first Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry Test 16-33 to the All Blacks in Johannesburg.
Coach Rassie Erasmus said New Zealand forced the errors with intense, sharp pressure.
“You get a hiding like this, you are thoroughly beaten by a team that’s probably now No1 in the world. It’s nice to go into the next game as the underdogs.”
He added that he wouldn’t say the Springboks would learn from the loss and get better.
“We didn’t have to learn from this. We knew what we had to do on the day, and we didn’t do it.”
He said even if the game-turning scrum in front of the All Blacks posts had been awarded as a penalty, and it was kicked, there were still a lot of errors that South Africa made that could not have assured a win.
“It’s not a wake-up call. There are so many things we did wrong and that New Zealand did right. There are a lot of things we have to fix.
Erasmus said the key scrum won by the All Blacks in front of their posts proved to be a key scrum, and he had no qualms with referee Matthew Carley’s decision. He felt the better option might have been for South Africa to take the three points instead of the scrum.
“We were only three points down at that stage. They [the All Blacks] scrummed really well and from then on there was a momentum shift.”
Springboks captain Pieter-Steph du Toit said his side made critical mistakes in the attacking 22m area. Some of them were down to handling mistakes, but Erasmus observed the All Blacks had attempted to strip balls in the tackle, something the Springboks had not practised for.
“They didn’t tackle like we thought they would. They normally either push down or chop tackles, and in this game they had a lot of strips. Even the non-try [Malcolm Marx] was stripped over the line.
“A lot of them were because of the good work New Zealand did. The ball wasn’t slippery so we can’t use that as an excuse.”
The All Blacks also played differently in the loose, and at breakdowns.
“We didn’t do well there, they did great.”
Erasmus said ‘catastrophic situations’ have been handled by the Springboks in his time.
“We lost the first Test against the British & Irish Lions [2021], and everybody said that was catastrophic. We lost the first game against New Zealand in the 2019 Rugby World Cup; everybody said that was catastrophic, so we’ve been in a lot of catastrophic situations in our lives.
“We are now in a position where if we want to win a series, we have to win three games on the trot. It puts them [the All Blacks] in a very good position, which they thoroughly deserve.
“Now we have to go to Cape Town and try and win there, then it’s all level.
“I wouldn’t say its catastrophic because there is a way out and that’s winning three matches on the trot.”
Du Toit said, “They played a big different that we thought they were going to play and that’s why they were better than us.”
Springbok centre Jesse Kriel, who ended up playing on the wing due to injuries to players inside him, said their lack of accuracy proved costly. He said they were not out of the series and they have three more chances.
“We know we weren’t as accurate as we wanted to be. We also know that New Zealand played unbelievably well. They were well prepared and came here with a great plan.”
Kriel said the changes to the backline were not a factor in the loss as they trained for all sorts of match circumstances.
“We’re a team that finds solutions and we will find solutions. We’ll be better next week.”