Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus played down South Africa's fourth successive victory over New Zealand in Cape Town on Saturday.
The Boks’ 18-12 victory over the All Blacks in front of a packed crowd of 57,733 at the DHL Stadium meant they are still unbeaten in the Castle Lager Rugby Championship.
While it was the Boks’ fourth win over New Zealand dating back to the Rugby World Cup warm-up clash in London last year, Erasmus said the respect the All Blacks too much to make a big thing out of it.
“We respect the All Blacks immensely as a team,” said Erasmus.
“(Springbok assistant coach) Tony Brown put what the haka and the way they think into perspective for us as a group, and that really helped in getting us to understand them better and also play better.
“It’s important to understand what winning four consecutive games against them means, but they’ve beaten us many times in a row too and achieved so much, so it’s not something to brag about, but it feels good.
“For us we spoke a lot about the Freedom Cup this week, and it means a lot for South Africa with where we are now. We wanted to win this badly for South Africa. This was also good for our hopes of winning the Castle Lager Rugby Championship, but we still have some work to do in that regard.”
Erasmus wasn’t too concerned about the Boks’ slow start for the second successive week after the All Blacks were also fastest out the blocks last weekend in Johannesburg.
New Zealand took a 9-3 lead at the break in Cape Town, but the Boks fought back in the second half to clinch the game with two tries in the second half, while they also kept the All Blacks tryless.
“I think we were too emotional when we started, but after halftime we kept our composure and came back well,” said Erasmus.
“We are currently on 20 wins in 23 games, which is special, but it is always important to stay in reality and keep working hard.”
Springbok captain Siya Kolisi, who played with a broken nose, echoed Erasmus’ sentiments about winning the Freedcom Cup: “We all wanted it (the win and Freedom Cup) and we knew how big it was for us as a group. The coach showed trust in me to play, so I couldn’t go out there half-hearted.
“We needed this today. We didn’t start well but the coach was honest with us at halftime, and in the second half we did what we planned to do, and it worked out for us.”
Kolisi said this was the Boks’ biggest game in almost a year: “After the Rugby World Cup this was the biggest game for us as a group, and we are really happy about this achievement.”
The Boks will have a couple of days off before starting their preparations for the Test against Los Pumas in Argentina in two weeks’ time.
Rassie Erasmus: “We wanted to win this badly for South Africa” - more here: https://t.co/Sh01PfN9ca 🗣#Springboks #ForeverGreenForeverGold #RSAvNZL pic.twitter.com/QGJNQWBEKc
— Springboks (@Springboks) September 7, 2024
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