Nothing to crow about, Erasmus says as Boks keep it humble

A sixth win in their past eight clashes against the All Blacks may be reason to crow at that the expense of the Kiwis, but Springbok head coach Rassie Erasmus provided a sobering perspective after his team’s 18-12 triumph at Cape Town Stadium on Saturday.

The Springboks’ fourth straight win over their old foes was met with carnival-like exuberance at the final whistle, but Erasmus was quick to point to the swings and roundabouts that top teams negotiate in their individual matchups.

“It’s important to understand that, for us, four wins is something that’s nice to have, but also they have beaten us six times in a row, in games that we were part of,” Erasmus said. “There’s nothing to brag about.

“It feels good that we can pip a team like this again, like last weekend. The way they had played, if they had won, nobody could say they didn’t deserve it.

“Because it’s the All Blacks, it’s special,” Erasmus said. “I think we are 20 out of 23 games now. Out of the last 23 games, we have won 20. There have been some great wins.

“There have been a lot of games that we have won by one point. So we are very realistic about where we are. A lot of those games could’ve gone against us.”

For the Springboks this week was less about putting their foot on the neck of redoubtable opponents, but more about laying claim to a prize they had not won since 2009.

“For us, really, this week the talk was about the Freedom Cup. It was special to win this one. Not necessarily for the Rugby Championship — there is still a lot of work to do — but the Freedom Cup is very important for us,” said Erasmus.

Erasmus is perhaps most qualified to air a view on the Boks’ results against the All Blacks. Since he took the coaching reins in 2018 the Boks have recorded seven wins, a draw and five defeats against the Kiwis.

The portents were encouraging after his first game coaching against the All Blacks when the Boks won in Wellington in 2018.

Much of the Boks’ recent success is owed to the consistency and continuity in their group. They have the same head coach and captain, and on Saturday boasted 12 players who featured in that Test in Wellington, while RG Snyman, Franco Mostert, Steven Kitshoff and Faf de Klerk might also have been involved had they not been injured.

The All Blacks featured 11 survivors from that Test on Saturday, but significantly they’re on their third head coach since then.

While Erasmus is careful not have his chest out after the latest triumph, All Blacks coach Scott Robertson had to pull his neck in after the clash. He tried to put a positive spin on proceedings, but was soon involved in a testy exchange with a UK-based TV commentator.

Robertson’s interrogator demanded to know if the coach thought the New Zealand public would be equally philosophical about a fourth straight defeat to the Springboks.

“Oh, I’m philosophical, but I’m real,” responded Robertson. The commentator however pointed out he wasn’t talking about him, rather the Kiwi public.

“Like I mentioned at the start, our jersey demands that we win those games,” said the coach. “I said that at the first question, to be honest with you, that’s not very philosophical. We care deeply about this jersey and we’ve got to win those.”

The commentator wasn’t done. “Do you think it will be a tough journey to go home and face up to those people?” he asked.

“Yep, it is. But we’ve got to be frank and honest about it. That’s the way you approach these things. You just step forward to it,” said the coach.