Rassie Erasmus has launched a blistering attack on his side following South Africa’s 38-22 defeat to Australia in the Rugby Championship opener at Ellis Park. The Springboks led 22-0 in the first quarter but collapsed in the second half, conceding 38 unanswered points.
Erasmus did not hold back in his assessment, describing the performance as “awful” and admitting the team lacked fight. “The effort was maybe there but the accuracy or precision wasn’t,” he told reporters. “It was a bad loss in a bad way. We were really awful, and they were very good, but we made them better.”
The Springboks were dominated at the breakdown and in the set pieces, with Australia winning key individual battles. Erasmus noted that despite a strong start, his side lost momentum after injuries to captain Siya Kolisi and flanker Marco van Staden. “They beat us in most departments. We as coaches got it terribly wrong,” he added.
The two teams meet again in Cape Town on Saturday, and Erasmus has already mooted changes to the side he had originally selected. “We’ll have to rethink it,” he said. “They tactically outsmarted us and physically dominated us.”
