Rassie Erasmus says that the Springboks will celebrate their record 43-10 victory over the All Blacks but won’t ‘rub it in their faces’.
Two Cheslin Kolbe tries, accompanied by scores by Damian Willemse, RG Snyman, Kwagga Smith and Andre Esterhuizen, saw South Africa put New Zealand to the sword in Wellington and blows the Rugby Championship wide open.
Springboks will enjoy the win
All four teams have now registered two wins apiece, with Australia leading the standings after collecting two losing bonus points against Argentina, with South Africa, New Zealand and Los Pumas following in the standings.
The Springboks are now unbeaten in their last three visits to Wellington, which includes a draw in 2019, and for a record victory, Erasmus remained humble.
“We’ve been on the other side of such a result when we lost 57-0 against them, and they managed to retain their win record at Eden Park and didn’t throw it in our faces, but we’ll take this win, and we are very happy with the result,” he told reporters.
“We will enjoy tonight, we are flipping definitely going to enjoy tonight.
“But once we are back in South Africa again, it’s back to reality. We are second on the Rugby Championship log, but the next two games will determine where we finish and what our world ranking is.”
He added: “We respect them too much for that, they’ve handed out shocks on us many times.
“We are just glad we got five points and we’re in the mix for the Rugby Championship. Obviously, people are going to talk about the records, last week the All Blacks kept the record at Eden Park and they didn’t throw it into our faces.
“The scoreline is nice and for the guys to hang in there was good, but for us, it’s more about what we are trying to achieve. So I know what it feels like in that change room on the other side, it’s nice, but I don’t think we have to dwell on that.”
Verdict on the backs
Erasmus selected a youthful-looking backline for the fixture, and while he was pleased with their performance, with several players putting up their hands, he did point out that New Zealand had a few inexperienced players in the mix too.
He also hailed the efforts of those who did not play in Wellington but prepared the squad well in the week.
“We always say there are three realities: ours, theirs, and the world’s and somewhere in between is the truth. They had eight players with fewer than 10 caps, and we only had two with fewer than 10 caps,” he said.
“We always saw it that way that we’ve been building and giving guys chances at certain stages, and are very happy with the performances they produced, but the way the guys who didn’t play this week prepared for this game was fantastic, having played the All Blacks at Eden Park.
“Yes, guys put up their hands and they showed that they can do it at this stage, so it’s nice to know that.
“We had a lot of injuries today in this match. I’m not quite sure what the extent of those injuries is, but it’s more the trust from the older guys who did not play today, who prepared the younger guys, that was a real positive.”
Erasmus added: “The main thing for us going into this game was to get the belief in the team back again, and we are back at No 1 in the world, but we know we are going to face two tough matches against Argentina, who have really been playing well.
“As a team, we want our people to believe in us because we see and feel what they do for us, and everyone back home trusts us to do our best. For us, it is never about proving people wrong.”
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