SOUTH AFRICA HEAD coach Rassie Erasmus expects an even tougher test from Ireland in the sides’ second clash in Durban next weekend.
He was pleased with his team’s effort in a 27-20 win that featured scores from wing duo Kurt-Lee Arendse and Cheslin Kolbe, as well as a dominant scrum penalty try late on to seal the victory.
However, Ireland made life difficult for the South Africans, scoring three tries of their own, and Erasmus knows there is more to come next weekend.
“Ireland will work out what we tried to do tonight, and we’re going to try and work out what they did because they also scored three tries,” said Erasmus.
“Just like tonight, they never give up. They’ll try to be more dominant. The guys who came off the bench, when Ringrose came on we were certainly in more challenging defensive situations, not that Bundee or Henshaw are not great players, they run over you.
“Crowley will be more settled in the second Test. They had an injury at hooker and their nine went down, so there were disruptive things in the game but it was certainly not that we didn’t? Until the last minute.
“I thought the Cheslin try was probably the put-away, where we were lucky. But until the last second, we were still nervy about the game. So no, they’re definitely not gonna run away. They’re going to be better next weekend and we will have to really perform.”
This was Erasmus’ first win over Ireland as the Springboks boss, having tasted defeat in 2022 and at last year’s World Cup.
“Since 2018, this is the only team that we had a zero per cent success rate against, including New Zealand and the Lions – they really had our number and tonight they came back so strongly and I think if they didn’t have big injuries, I think the game would have been much tighter.
“We know next weekend – I wouldn’t say it’s a monkey off our back but it’s a really good, competitive team that’s number two and any day can beat you and be number one.”
The Springboks’ win was notable for their new, more expansive approach in attack under Tony Brown, who was previously with Japan.
The Boks tested the Irish defence with their increased width and depth, stringing together nice chains of passes, leading to moments like the superb early Kurt-Lee Arendse.
“I hope people can see we are trying to develop our attacking game,” said Erasmus.
“With that comes mistakes in cohesion and definitely that did happen but they’re not number two for nothing.
“Their defensive system is really sound and when they scored those last two tries we were down to 14 men – it felt like a very stop-start game, injuries – that’s nobody’s fault. For both teams it buggered up momentum.”
