Rassie Erasmus reviews Springboks’ fourth straight win over All Blacks

Springboks coach Rassie Erasmus might go down in history as the greatest mastermind the sport has ever seen. If that wasn’t the case already, the dual Rugby World Cup winner helped the Springboks created more history on Saturday with a thrilling win over the All Blacks.

For the first time since 2009, the Springboks hold The Freedom Cup after recording back-to-back wins over the touring All Blacks in South Africa. The Springboks won the first Test in Johannesburg 31-27 before backing up those heroics in Cape Town 18-12.

When the full-time whistle sounded at  DHL Stadium on Saturday evening, the noise that was projected from the thousands in attendance was deafening. South Africa loves rugby, and it’s moments like that that will live on forever in the minds of those fortunate to be there.

Backrower Siya Kolisi became the first Springboks captain to hoist the prestigious trophy in 15 years. About 30 minutes later, Kolisi walked into the post-match press conference room with Erasmus, and you could feel the significance of their achievement and the relief as well.

It wasn’t the best performance the world has ever seen from the world champion Springboks, not even close, but they won and that’s all that matters at the end of the day. The fact it was against the All Blacks was just the icing on the cake.

“Because it’s the All Blacks, it’s special… I think I’d be 20 out of 23 games now, out of the last 23 games I think we won 20, so there’s been some great wins,” Erasmus told reporters.

“The Ireland game was a drop goal, the game we lost in the World Cup, with the last maul we could have scored a try. Then there was a lot of games which we only won by one point so we’re very realistic of where we are, a lot of the games could have gone against us.

“We respect these guys unbelievably, really, I’m not taking nonsense. You should have seen Tony (Brown) now there in the changeroom, and Tony put a perspective on us about the All Blacks, he tells us a lot that we didn’t understand (before).

“We understand it better and it also makes us play better. We always respected them but how they think even from the haka to the individual players and the makeup of their team and how to do things, it’s quite amazing what he’s told us.

“It’s not because it’s the All Blacks it’s great, it’s because it’s a team that we have a close relationship with and we’ve struggled a lot against them and tonight we managed to beat them.”

In both Freedom Cup fixtures, the Springboks weren’t anywhere near their best but they still found a way to win. The fact it was against the All Blacks is what’s particularly frightening for other teams around the world as the Boks showed once again why they’re the world’s best.

On Saturday evening, the Springboks fell behind 3-nil after a Damian McKenzie penalty goal in the 14^th minute. McKenzie converted another penalty goal 14 minutes later, with the visitors later taking a hard-earned 9-3 lead into the half-time sheds.

The All Blacks scored a minute into the second half last weekend in Johannesburg, but it was a different story this time with the Springboks clawing their way back into the contest. Captain Kolisi scored a decisive try about eight minutes into the second half.

Playmakers Handre Pollard and Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu kicked the Springboks into the lead, and another try to replacement hooker Malcolm Marx was enough to get them home in the end.

New Zealand had a couple of chances to take the lead inside the final 20 minutes, much like last year’s Rugby World Cup Final between the same two sides, but McKenzie sent some attempts wide – the South Africans made them pay, at least defensively.

Now, the Springboks are The Freedom Cup champions.

They’ve won two Rugby World Cups, but this was another important milestone for a team that may very well go down in history as the greatest ever. That was the Springboks' fourth consecutive win over the All Blacks, which is the first time they've done that since 1949.

“I think it’s important to understand that, for us, four wins is nice to have but they’ve beaten us six times in a row which we were part of,” Erasmus explained.

“We’ve had big scores against them… there’s nothing to brag about, they’ve done worse to us. But it feels good that we can pip a team like this again.

“For us, really, this week was to talk about The Freedom Cup. I know we talk about it and we say it a lot about South Africa but when you attach The Freedom Cup to that, it was special. We wanted to win this one, not necessarily for The Rugby Championship… but The Freedom Cup was very important for us.

“I think the players were a bit too emotional when we started and we weren’t accurate… I think after half-time we calmed a little bit and started playing a little bit better.

“Yeah, The Freedom Cup, was the thing we wanted. Four wins against New Zealand, they have so many records they can brag about, we won’t ponder on that too long.”