Shaky Bok Victory Over Scotland Is Exactly What SA Needed
A much-changed Springbok side came through a pulsating, see-saw battle to defeat Scotland 42-28 (14-14 at halftime) in their opening Nations Championship match at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday.
The Springboks claimed six tries to Scotland’s four after making 10 changes to the starting XV that defeated England 45-21 a week earlier.
The victory keeps South Africa at the top of the Southern Hemisphere Conference on points difference ahead of New Zealand, with both teams sitting on the maximum 10 log points.
“It’s much nicer when you win and you learn than when you lose and you learn,” said Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus.
“There was a stage in 2018 when we were learning but we were losing. It was important to find out who could do it at this level and who needed more work.”
The Springboks raced into a 14-0 lead with two tries in the space of two minutes during the first half before Scotland fought back to level the scores at 14-14 by halftime.
South Africa then struck three times in an eight-minute spell after the break to open up what appeared to be a match-winning 35-14 advantage. However, Scotland responded once again with two quick tries to ensure the contest remained alive until the closing stages.
“We had 12 players with fewer than 10 Test caps — that’s half the team — so we knew cohesion was going to be a challenge,” Erasmus said.
“You could see that in our defence, especially after we made some substitutions towards the end. We learned a lot about certain players. It’s not that they’re not good enough, but there’s still a lot of work to be done.
“This was the test some of those guys needed — not against a Tier Two nation, but against a Tier One side of Scotland’s quality.”
Erasmus admitted selecting such an inexperienced team carried a degree of risk but believes South African supporters understand the bigger picture.
“I don’t think the crowd was particularly happy at the end, but I think South Africans understand what we were trying to do in this game,” he said.
“In the past, if we made four changes, people would ask, ‘What are you doing?’ But I think the interaction between us and the supporters, through the media, has created a sense of togetherness. People understand what we’re trying to achieve, and I think that’s something that has changed over the years.
“It’s about the crowd believing in the team and the team believing in South Africa. The supporters could easily have turned against us after the soft tries we conceded, but several players hadn’t experienced this level before.
“If we lose, the knives will be out. But for me, the most important thing is learning about the players. Even if we had lost this game, I think some supporters would have understood what we were trying to do. Fortunately, we won.”
Erasmus said the lessons learned justified the gamble.
“Sometimes we have to put personal goals aside, whether that’s extending a winning streak or even putting our chances of winning this championship at risk, so that we can discover who is capable of performing at this level.
“If you don’t make those calls, you’ll never know. When do you do it? Do you only do it against teams that aren’t of this calibre? I think Scotland are a quality side, and this is how you find out.
“There’s pressure, there’s tension, and there’s a crowd that has bought tickets to watch this match. Some of these players aren’t even established Test players yet.
“For those guys to experience the crowd falling quiet when things aren’t going well — that’s the only way they can learn. I’m not saying this to make our performance sound better, and I don’t want to upset the English, but we genuinely thought Scotland would be tougher than England.
“The way they demolished Argentina, beat England and France, and the rugby they played during this year’s Six Nations told us it was going to be a very tough game.”
The Springboks will conclude the July leg of the Nations Championship when they host Wales at Hollywoodbets Kings Park in Durban on Saturday.
