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Rassie Erasmus pinpoints what made the difference in tight Bok win

By Josh Raisey at Allianz Stadium, Twickenham
RG Snyman of South Africa congratulates team mate Siya Kolisi after their team's victory in the Autumn Nations Series 2024 match between England and South Africa at the Allianz Stadium on November 16, 2024 in London, England. (Photo by Warren Little/Getty Images)

South Africa head coach Rassie Erasmus believes his side’s experience is what made the difference as South Africa were able to hold on to a 20-29 win over England at Twickenham’s Allianz Stadium.

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In a match where the lead changed hands on a number of occasions, the world champions came out on the right side of the scoreline as they so often do. But Erasmus’ outfit found themselves under a lot of pressure in the final quarter of the match with prop Gerhard Steenekamp in the sin bin.

Despite waves of English attack in South Africa’s half, The Rugby Championship winners were able to repel Steve Borthwick’s side with various players coming to the fore with big tackles and turnovers to keep England scoreless in the final quarter.

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Springbok captain Siya Kolisi on Marcus Smith’s growth as a player

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      Springbok captain Siya Kolisi on Marcus Smith’s growth as a player

      The Springboks might have inside knowledge of Marcus Smith’s “strengths and weaknesses”, but they must be street-smart in dealing with the unpredictable playmaker.

      In a match he described as “competitive as hell,” Erasmus feels that it was the fact that this Springboks outfit have found themselves in similar positions in the past which helped them get over the line in the end.

      This experience is what allowed the players to keep “calm heads” in the closing stages to maintain their status as the number one side in the world.

      Match Summary

      2
      Penalty Goals
      1
      2
      Tries
      4
      2
      Conversions
      3
      0
      Drop Goals
      0
      109
      Carries
      88
      5
      Line Breaks
      7
      12
      Turnovers Lost
      8
      4
      Turnovers Won
      5

      “I definitely think it’s experience,” Erasmus said when analysing how the Boks were able to close out the match. “I think the team that we put out there has played together a lot in important games and most of them played in the last match against Argentina for The Rugby Championship.

      “Getting cards is not something that we’re proud of, but hanging in there while we’ve got a card, that definitely takes some character and planning from the other coaches and the guys running the specific areas- defence, lineout, Vincent [Koch] going to loosehead, without him going to loosehead we would have gone to uncontested scrums which would have meant we would go to 13 men. So then we would have struggled to keep them out as they were really playing well.

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      “I do think calm heads, which weren’t always in the coaches’ box, but the players on the field were pretty much cool, calm and handled it with experience.”

      Despite the result, Erasmus was not overly pleased with the reigning World Cup winners’ display, but knows a nine-point victory at the Allianz Stadium is not to be sniffed at.

      “Last week we had a good winning margin, this game, again, does the score really reflect how close the game was?” he said.

      “It was a one-try game, penalty kicks here and there.

      “Overall, when you play at Twickenham and say you’re not happy with the performance and beat them by nine points, we’re arrogant. It wasn’t fantastic. But we’re content.”

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      Comments

      44 Comments
      M
      MM 233 days ago

      Click she jumps ....like a rag doll

      S
      SteveD 234 days ago

      Fish, barrel.

      S
      SteveD 235 days ago

      Oh dear, been kipping under your rock again? Never mind, maybe you can rather spend some more time in the barrel with your false teeth out.

      N
      NE 235 days ago

      Puerile.

      N
      NE 235 days ago

      Even more lame. Harder. Higher.

      A
      Ace 239 days ago

      Dang, naaitril, has your vocab been reduced even further!?

      S
      SteveD 239 days ago

      🐟🐟🐟🐟🐟 ⚱️⚱️⚱️⚱️⚱️

      🐟🐟🐟🐟🐟 ⚱️⚱️⚱️⚱️⚱️

      🐟🐟🐟🐟🐟 ⚱️⚱️⚱️⚱️⚱️

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      🐟🐟🐟🐟🐟 ⚱️⚱️⚱️⚱️⚱️

      🐟🐟🐟🐟🐟 ⚱️⚱️⚱️⚱️⚱️

      🐟🐟🐟🐟🐟 ⚱️⚱️⚱️⚱️⚱️

      🐟🐟🐟🐟🐟 ⚱️⚱️⚱️⚱️⚱️

      N
      NE 240 days ago

      Childish.

      N
      NE 240 days ago

      Lame.

      S
      SteveD 241 days ago

      Oh, you still around? Been let out of the nuthouse after a week's treatment? You really need to wake up maat. Anyway, there's even more fish waiting to be shot in the barrels:


      🐟🐟🐟🐟🐟 ⚱️⚱️⚱️⚱️⚱️

      🐟🐟🐟🐟🐟 ⚱️⚱️⚱️⚱️⚱️

      🐟🐟🐟🐟🐟 ⚱️⚱️⚱️⚱️⚱️

      🐟🐟🐟🐟🐟 ⚱️⚱️⚱️⚱️⚱️

      Z
      ZamaZama 241 days ago

      Practicing your cheers for Saturday afternoon on the backseat of mommy's taxi?

      N
      NE 241 days ago

      Higher, harder.

      M
      MM 242 days ago

      Niaahol, why aren't you whining about the world player in if the year awards, try harder jump high wnaker

      S
      SteveD 249 days ago

      🐟🐟🐟🐟🐟 ⚱️⚱️⚱️⚱️⚱️

      🐟🐟🐟🐟🐟 ⚱️⚱️⚱️⚱️⚱️

      N
      NE 249 days ago

      Hoppity hop. Good girl.

      S
      SteveD 249 days ago

      🐟🐟🐟🐟🐟 ⚱️⚱️⚱️⚱️⚱️

      S
      SteveD 249 days ago

      Give up, moffie, and go off to Cecil. You're never going to get the better of me, and, while I realise you're as thick as ten short planks, even you should be able to work it out. Remember "fish", "barrel"? 🐟🐟🐟

      R
      RedWarrior 251 days ago

      Tight match a few points:

      -England are badly missing Felix Jones. This one was very winnable. Tactics were clueless at the end

      -Andrew Brace chickened out of a yellow for SA at the end. SA brought down a driving Maul approaching the SA line. That is a yellow. No ifs no buts. He said to SA "Dont think I wont give you a yellow just because youve a man already in the bin". But that's EXACTLY what you were doing Bracey. England 9point deficit versus 13 and a penalty deep in the SA 22 is a likely winning position. Brace didn't give a yellow because SA already had a man in the bin.

      -England are not bad but they need an expert with the analytical capabilities of a Felix Jones.

      G
      GrahamVF 250 days ago

      And Itoje got away with a neck roll?

      R
      RW 251 days ago

      Block Nigel like I have, makes for a more pleasant experience.

      N
      NE 251 days ago

      Brace was, as expected, SA's Man of the Match (by some considerable distance if international reports and articles are considered).

      B
      Ben 251 days ago

      Funny but sad how this poor soul runs out of people to stalk and harass as they all block him, and then changes his name so they'll talk to him again.

      T
      Td 251 days ago

      That time of the month for you. NE? .. it must be a dark place living in your skin🤣🤣🤣... we love your hatred ... makes us so much more determined to rub it in... in your heeaaad in your heeeaad...

      M
      MM 251 days ago

      Niaaaahol is arsehole of the century us usual ..try harder jump higher

      G
      GrahamVF 251 days ago

      It the result of Rassie's charm offensive. Everybody loves the Boks they love the Bomb Squad they love the big ugly strong forwards and most of all they love Rassie.

      T
      The One 251 days ago

      🤣🤣🤣 The broken record keeps spinning!

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      J
      JW 1 hour ago
      Leicester Fainga'anuku denied All Blacks eligibility for TRC

      I don’t get that. I got the opposite, this was something Lester really really wanted to do. NZR is not going to stop him doing that by putting ridiculous money in front of him (noted you were only asking for fair money).


      I wouldn’t say this was a Mo’unga or Frizell situation where there talent only was unlocked after they signed abroad, when Schmidt and Ryan came in respectively. LF was on a good trajectory, and he just decided he has the perfect window of opportunity to go abroad while he’s not first choice, learn and live in France to come back better and have a good shot at the perfect age. I think he recongised that.


      Agreed that our rotation has been off the the last decade, players have not been moved on when they should, but I wouldn’t include Rieko in that discussion, though I would accept he is more of a marketing than performance signing.


      Also agree it is a strange condunrum that results from the misalligned seasons, where Lester is straight into NPC in the same season almost. When really the ‘start’ of his contract is next year. Is he even going to be on the payroll at the moment? Could it be used as a double dip to encourage players back, a ‘bonus international season’ of match fees.


      But they also don’t want them to become anymore common. So perhaps everything is fine? Like I was alluding to with Toko, they would need multiple markers of their own in Top 14 for them to be able to gauge off. As I’ve said in previous articles I’d be comfortable to expand sabbaticals to 2 in every position (yes a huge change), so that the was a core group of 30 of the top players all aligned with the ABs and overseas at any one time. This would ensure there are good markers to correlate levels of performance amongst everyone. This is a very similar setup/size to South Africa. It is like the AB modem in a wider organism, the vets are shipped off much earlier, and the core of next cycle is brought through. No missing out on the JGPs or Aki’s, no the Antonio’s or young Patrick Tuifua’s to france, keeping the Chandler Cunningham-South’s or Roots brothers, evan this Dubious guy from the French team was playing rugby here in NZ and could have stayed with a more ground up focus on bringing players through, not paying them much etc lol

      45 Go to comments
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