The Springboks were well and truly humbled by the All Blacks at Ellis Park in the opening Test of Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry, but attention now quickly turns to kick off for the second battle in a four-match series this Saturday (17:10).
Heading to Cape Town, the Springboks will know there is plenty of room for improvement, and Rassie Erasmus has already made it clear that the team knows where things went wrong as the hosts conceded five tries to one.
“We made a helluva lot of errors,” he said. “But it wasn’t a wake-up call. There were just so many things that we did wrong and that New Zealand did right – so I’m not going to say we learnt a lot of things from this match.
“There would have been a lot of things we’d have to put right even if we had scratched through this match with a one point win.
“We didn’t play well. Against a class team like New Zealand, if you don’t convert, they give you a proper hiding.
“With hindsight, there were a lot of things we didn’t convert; I think there were two or three big moments when we let the game go away from us. Not because we wanted to or because we wanted to make those errors but because New Zealand forced those on to us by being really intense and sharp.”
Kick off for the Springboks’ second Test against the All Blacks is at 17:10
The Springboks will remain in Johannesburg until Wednesday and travel to Cape Town on Thursday.
Centre Jesse Kriel said a big focus would be on ensuring the team convert their opportunities into points.
“In Test match rugby, if you don’t convert and take your opportunities and other teams do, the scoreboard is normally not in your favour and we clearly had to be more clinical,” said Kriel.
“The All Blacks were when they got their chances, and at the highest level between the two best teams in the world, that’s what happens.
“There are very small margins for error in a Test match of this magnitude and on an occasion like this, so we’ll have to be better there, and we are looking forward to the challenge next week.”
Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry fixtures and results
