Rassie Erasmus' admission after Springboks comeback win

South Africa head coach Rassie Erasmus says he's relieved that the Springboks managed to claw back a victory against New Zealand in Ellis Park and admits at one stage they were just aiming to stop the All Blacks from coming away with 5 competition points.

The Boks, trailing by 10 points with 10 minutes left, made a dramatic comeback with tries from Kwagga Smith and Grant Williams, securing a 31-27 Rugby Championship victory over the All Blacks.

The home side led for only nine minutes in the match and scored fewer tries than Scott Robertson's All Blacks.

“I think the guys did really well to pull off a victory against a New Zealand team that played really well and dominated the whole game,” said Erasmus.

“Our boys had a few opportunities but for long spells we were out of the game. They dominated for long periods, but the guys stayed focused and came through.

“At one point they were three tries up and looking like getting five points and our focus was on stopping them getting the bonus point. New Zealand would have been deserving if they had won.”

Erasmus commended the performances of Aphelele Fassi, Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, Ben-Jason Dixon, and Ruan Nortje, who collectively had only 18 caps when they started the game.

“We wanted to see how the newer players could handle the occasion and the pressure and Aphelele Fassi came through with flying colours,” said Erasmus.

“Sacha came through as well – but that’s not to say that Handre (Pollard) is out of it or that Manie (Libbok) is out of it. We’re going to keep on building the squad.

“To play New Zealand is big; to beat New Zealand and is big and for players to step up against Tier One nations like Ireland and against an amazing New Zealand team is really good for our long-term plans.”

The Springboks remain the only undefeated team in the competition after three rounds, but Erasmus is focused on the upcoming Test against the All Blacks in Cape Town.

“This puts us in a good position in the Rugby Championship, but we don’t know what Australia and Argentina are going to do,” he said. “If Argentina win both games it will make it interesting, so we’re under no illusions.

“Winning the Castle Lager Rugby Championship is very important, and I would definitely love to win it, but we will definitely move players around next week and hopefully they make it, but we won’t get ahead of ourselves.

“Everything didn’t go right today, and we’ll have a look at why we didn’t get out of our half at stages and why we didn’t capitalise on chances a few times. Our focus is only on next week.”