How a 'hurt' Rassie Erasmus reacted to Boks' defeat

Springbok head coach Rassie Erasmus admitted the team was hurting following their narrow 29-28 defeat to Argentina in the Castle Lager Rugby Championship in Santiago del Estero on Saturday.

The loss sees South Africa lose their number one spot on the World Rugby ranking to Ireland.

Erasmus stated they would use Sunday’s travel day to recover before regrouping on Monday to prepare for the final round in Nelspruit next weekend.

“It hurts a lot,” said Erasmus. “It’s putting a positive spin on things to say the match in Mbombela could be fitting as a final to the competition because we must first get over this result.

“We have to point fingers at ourselves as coaches and management too, but that said, we have a chance to redeem ourselves next week and to finish the Castle Lager Rugby Championship on a high note.”

"It was a great match by Argentina, while we made crucial mistakes at vital times, so all credit to them, they deserved the win.

“They knew they had a chance to win the competition with a victory, and you could see they were going for the bonus-point, and they really brought it to us.

“I definitely think the momentum shifted when we received the yellow card (to Kurt-Lee Arendse), so it’s going to be a tough match at Mbombela Stadium next week.”

Erasmus refused to throw flyhalf Manie Libbok under the bus even after he missed a crucial kick at the end of the game.

“If we didn’t miss the penalty kick in the end, there would have been smiles all around. But if you look at the game, there were a few things that didn’t go our way.

“Our lineout didn’t function as well as we would have liked, but there were also a lot of other things we could have done better that would have ensured that the match didn’t come down to that kick, so we have a lot to work on next week.

“We started well and I’m always nervous when we start well because we generally tend to fight back hard,” said Erasmus.

“But we should have put them away early on. That said, they did well to exploit the yellow card, and that’s where the momentum swung.”

Springbok captain Salmaan Moerat echoed his coach’s sentiments, acknowledging the team's performance was below standard. Argentina’s win places added pressure on South Africa as they now face a decisive fixture to secure their standing in the competition.

“There were parts of the game when we put them under pressure, and after the yellow card we took our foot off the pedal. Simply said, it was not good enough from us out there.

“Argentina are a tough team to play at home, and as we said in the week, if you do not pitch up fully, they can punish you, and they showed that.”

The Pumas' victory moved them to 14 points in the standings, while the Springboks, with a losing bonus point, are on 19. A Springbok win in the final round would secure their first Rugby Championship title since 2019, capping a series where they claimed both the Nelson Mandela Challenge Plate and the Freedom Cup.

Erasmus confirmed that the rested players will rejoin the squad in Nelspruit. Both teams flew back to South Africa together after the match, with the Springboks set to resume full training on Monday ahead of the decisive fixture.