Rassie Erasmus praised the Springboks after their commanding 43-0 victory over Wales in Durban. However, he stressed that the team still has plenty to improve before facing Argentina.
South Africa crossed for six tries and produced a dominant defensive display. Moreover, the Springboks prevented Wales from scoring despite difficult, wet conditions.
The head coach was pleased with the overall performance, especially the team’s defensive improvement.
“To get 43 points and to keep them to nil – we’re satisfied with that.
“Forty-three-nil was definitely better than last week – certainly defensively – but it’s easier to defend on a wet field like that – and we had no injuries, so that’s good.
“I think we’ve got a little bit better in every game of the Nations Championship but as we’ve been rotating it does take cohesion away.”
Looking ahead, Erasmus confirmed that South Africa will split the squad for the Argentina tour. The move supports both short-term success and long-term planning before the clashes with New Zealand.
“A squad of 26 will go to Argentina and then there will be 15 or 16 players staying behind with some coaches.”
Erasmus pleased with Springboks’ improvements
Although the scoreline looked convincing, Erasmus admitted the slippery surface limited attacking rugby.
He explained that even experienced internationals struggled with handling in the greasy conditions.
“We saw world-class players make a few knocks-on in this game. The field is really slippery, and you could feel it in the warm-up – that it was really greasy.
“It was tough to play an expansive, pretty game in weather like that against a team that really wanted to defend.”
Even so, the Springbok coach highlighted major improvements in several key areas.
South Africa dominated the lineouts, strengthened the scrum, and delivered an effective maul. Furthermore, the team’s defensive structure improved significantly from the previous week.
“But we didn’t lose a lineout ball and, while we weren’t on our game in the scrums last week, we were good today – our maul stopping and mauling itself was good.
“It was something that we wanted to get right so we had a lot of fixes that we got right.
“In this game we learnt that our defence was better than last week – we worked really hard on that – and then our set piece was really solid.
“And I think some guys handled the pressure of test match rugby better than they did last week. I think a lot of guys came through this test with ticks against their name.”
Vusi Moyo earns praise ahead of Argentina challenge
Erasmus also applauded debutant Vusi Moyo after his historic first Test appearance.
The 20-year-old became the youngest fly-half to start for the Springboks. Despite early nerves, he impressed his coach with his composure.
“He definitely played well.
“You could see there were nerves. He’s a really accurate kicker; kicks off well but you get into a test match like this; with a lot of people in the crowd, the ball is wet and suddenly you don’t kick it into the corners and you don’t get your kick offs on the spot.
“I thought he handled it extremely well.
“But I’ve been there; in your first or second test you’re tired because of the nerves and I thought his tyres were a little pap in the second half when we took him off.”
Meanwhile, Erasmus confirmed positive and negative injury news in the fly-half department.
Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu is expected to return for Argentina. However, Handre Pollard has suffered a hamstring injury.
“Sacha will be ready for Argentina.”
“Handre has pulled a hamstring.”
Finally, Erasmus warned that Argentina will present a far greater challenge than Wales.
He believes the Springboks are moving in the right direction. Nevertheless, he expects a fierce battle in South America.
“Argentina is going to be tough – like Wales they’ve had our number a few times and our biggest loss was to them since we’ve been together from 2018.
“We are just trying to build our game and I think today was another step forward.”
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