Springboks head coach Rassie Erasmus says his side have a "lot of things to put right" after South Africa imploded against New Zealand in the first of their four-Test series at Ellis Park.
Springboks' winning run ends
Having led 16-12 early in the second half, the All Blacks scored 21 unanswered points against the back-to-back world champions, who also had two players sent to the sin-bin late on. It brought the Springboks' 12-match winning run, the longest under Erasmus, to a shuddering end.
However, despite failing to make their scrum dominance count in the first half and ultimately conceding five tries, Erasmus kept fairly level-headed as he prepares to pick his side up for next week's second Test in Cape Town.
Erasmus refuses to call defeat catastrophic
"We have been in many catastrophic situations in our lives," said Erasmus. "We lost the first Test against the British & Irish Lions [in 2021] and everyone said it was a catastrophe."
"We lost the first pool game against New Zealand in the World Cup [in 2019] and everyone said that was catastrophic, so we have been in a lot of catastrophic situations."
"We're now in a position where if we want to win the series we have to win three games on the trot. So, without doubt, it puts them in a very good position which they thoroughly deserve."
"Now we have to go to Cape Town and try and win there. If we do, it's all level, but we still have to win three matches in a row. I wouldn't say it's catastrophic because there is a way out, and that's winning three matches on the trot."
The All Blacks moved to number one in the world, usurping the Springboks following the 33-16 win.
"We were thoroughly beaten by a team that is now No 1 in the world – it'll be nice to go into the next game as the underdogs," said Erasmus.
"I think we were dominant in the scrums, but it doesn't help you if you're dominant in one or two parts of the game. The All Blacks were more dominant in most parts of the game."
"I'm not going to butter it up with that cliché and say we're going to learn from this and get better. We didn't need to learn from this; we knew what we had to do on the day – we didn't do it."
Scrum penalty key moment
Both Erasmus and All Black head coach Dave Rennie picked out a scrum penalty against the Boks when they were putting pressure on New Zealand near their own line.
"I think we'll always debate scrums, and I reckon every team does," said Rennie. "You know, when you get penalised, you question whether they're walking around."
"They got penalised for walking around eventually, and that was probably a key moment in the game. We got great impact off the bench."
Erasmus, speaking about the same scrum, said: "Even if we had kicked over that scrum penalty and we won we still made a helluva lot of errors," he said.
"But it wasn't a wake-up call. There were just so many things that we did wrong and that New Zealand did right – so I'm not going to say we learnt a lot of things from this match."
"There would have been a lot of things we'd have to put right even if we had scratched through this match with a one point win."
"We didn't play well. Against a class team like New Zealand, if you don't convert, they give you a proper hiding."
"With hindsight, there were a lot of things we didn't convert; I think there were two or three big moments when we let the game go away from us. Not because we wanted to or because we wanted to make those errors but because New Zealand forced those on to us by being really intense and sharp."
AC Milan owners exploring English rugby deal
The owners of Italian football giants AC Milan are reportedly exploring a deal to become a major backer of English rugby.
Sky News report that RedBird Capital Partners are in preliminary discussions with stakeholders including CVC Capital Partners, the majority-owner of Global Sport Group, which is the single-biggest shareholder in the Gallagher Prem.
Any potential deal is still at a very early stage, with Sky reporting it could either result in RedBird becoming an investor in the Prem, a number of Prem clubs or both. They added that it's possible no deal could materialise, with discussions described as "informal".
Their interest has emerged just weeks after the sport's power-brokers in England convened a gathering of current and prospective commercial partners, sponsors, broadcasters and investors to pitch rugby union's commercial opportunities to them.
RedBird Capital is understood to have been among the attendees at that event, with PRL officials now engaged in efforts to 'match' clubs with prospective investors.
The Prem are looking to improve their financial fortunes after Wasps and Worcester went bust. Newcastle are now owned by Red Bull, while the owners of AFC Bournemouth have bought a controlling stake in Exeter Chiefs. Other clubs have been tipped for similar external investors.
The league announced plans to switch to a franchise-style model earlier this year, which will see relegation from the top flight in order to usher in financial sustainability.
Savea tipped with surprise move
All Blacks skipper Ardie Savea has been tipped with a surprise move to new rugby league outfit PNG Chiefs.
The expansion team will enter NRL in 2028. And, hours before he skippered New Zealand to victory over South Africa in Johannesburg, reports emerged that they could target the 32-year-old.
Rugbypass write that the 2023 World Rugby player of the year could switch codes once his NZ Rugby deal expires after next year's World Cup.
Savea has spent the past two seasons in Japan, playing for Kobe Steelers. He's set to play for Auckland Blues next season following Moana Pasifika's collapse. The Chiefs offer tax-free salaries, which would be tempting.
Leinster and a return to Japan have also been mooted.
