Rassie Erasmus: 'So happy about everything except that'

Two yellow cards and a red don’t win you World Cups, said Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus after his new-look Bok team’s spirited 64-21 victory over Portugal in Bloemfontein on Saturday.

There was much to celebrate in the one-off Test against the Os Lobos, like the four tries that were scored by debutants Jan-Hendrik Wessels, Phepsi Buthelezi, Quan Horn, and Andre-Hugo Venter.

But a yellow card to Andre Esterhuizen in the second minute of the game, which was upgraded to red, as well as a yellow each to Kurt-Lee Arendse and Quan Horn, had the coach worried.

“Discipline is something we have to look at,” Erasmus told the media at the post-match press conference.

“To get a red card two minutes into the game, you won’t win World Cups that way.

“And then two more yellow cards.

“So happy about everything except that,” he sternly commented.

Having thirteen players on the field for 20 minutes and playing the whole game with fourteen, caused the new-look side and new captain Salmaan Moerat to keep cool heads and work together to keep the fleetfooted and energetic Os Lobos intact.

Erasmus agreed that the incidents were merely accidents but it still disrupted the team and when asked what plans were made, he gestured to captain Salmaan Moerat to explain.

“We knew that we needed to work that extra bit harder, especially the tight five, our loose forwards,” the captain explained.

“We knew we needed to step it up a bit. I thought the backline was exceptional to come up with a plan.

“A lot of credit must go to Manie [Libbok] and Sacha [Feinberg-Mngomezulu] with the way they managed that situation.

“All in all massive respect to the players for making the plans,” Moerat said.

Erasmus said it was good to see how the players reacted after the red card as they could’ve been rattled and remained calm.

“We had to make plans on the field to play with 14 – that’s a nice experience.

“It wasn’t a beautiful match at times, and it didn’t look like we were going to punish them with 50 points, but the crowd never got negative, and I think that helped the players.” the Springbok coach added.

He confirmed that the touring squad for Australia would be named on Tuesday.

“We will slowly start integrating some of these players into the squad – some might play against Australia – but then not play against New Zealand – but then come back against Argentina.”