mens
nations-championship
Springboks head coach Rassie Erasmus was quick to take the blame for his side’s 21-19 loss to France in Paris on Friday night, saying it was entirely up to the coaching staff to find solutions to the problems that arose.
South Africa fought back from 14 points down at half-time in the Test, first with a converted try for Cobus Reinach in the 50th minute, before crucially missing Malcolm Marx’s 71st-minute effort from a powerful turnover.
The reigning world champions still had the chance to have the last laugh in Paris, but Louis Bielle-Biarrey capped a superstar performance by sprinting from the defensive line to lay a decisive shot at Jesse Kriel, the ball then going wide and Antoine Dupont winning the race.
After the result, Erasmus admitted his side, which committed 16 turnovers and shot 77 per cent, did not reach the standard required on the occasion.
“We didn’t play well and I won’t make excuses,” the coach said. “They were able to take advantage of every opportunity that came their way, unlike us.
“However, we also had chances, but we missed passes and made too many mistakes. The French made us make mistakes, force our rugby, take us out of what we wanted to set up.
“But it’s a staff problem, not a player problem. The players did what they could. It’s up to us, the coaches, to find solutions. I’ll be thinking about everything all night and probably all week.”
Erasmus labeled the Test a “real battle”, saying the intensity reached “extreme” levels between the two global heavyweights. The Springboks are a team that have so often come out on top in the biggest and toughest games of late, and Erasmus was honest about how much the defeat in Paris hurt.
“The French won it at the gong. And, believe me, it hurts to lose like this,” he said.
There will be plenty of positives for Erasmus and his coaching staff to assess, with the Springboks possessing better attacking and set-piece statistics across the board. Converting that success into points, however, was the missing ingredient the group must now find.
“I mean, the one try France scored was a ball that bounced off a player’s head. I felt we defended really well,” the coach reflected.
“France had the ball in hand and (Antoine) Dupont, along with (Maxime) Lucu and basically their whole team were good tonight. I really thought we fought hard and kept them out. Kurt-Lee (Arendse)’s foul before half-time would have been the game.
“With everything that went wrong, we kind of got ourselves into that hole. It’s not like France forced us to play the way we did. It was like we were a little cautious tonight, and when that happens, it usually comes down to the coaching staff.
“I don’t think the players went out there and fought with their hearts, because they were physical and when they got a chance they decided to hesitate a little bit. That’s something I have to understand and work all night on why that happened.
“If you look at the week, we only had two training sessions and a six-day turnaround, and it was the same for France, they even played later last Saturday, so they even had a shorter turnaround.
“I don’t think we have anyone to blame but ourselves.”