Erasmus rues Springboks 'gift' to Wallabies

Springboks coach Rassie Erasmus felt South Africa gifted Australia a foothold in Saturday’s clash even before their second-half no-show.

The Wallabies recorded their first win of this year’s Rugby Championship by triumphing 23-18 despite trailing at the break, with the Springboks tailing off badly following the restart.

While the winning points came from penalties in the second half, Erasmus was most frustrated by the errors that handed Michael Hooper and Matt Toomua tries.

“To gift 14 points on a platter to a team, you’re going to struggle to win the game,” said Erasmus.

“I thought our mauling went very well compared to last time, the scrums were good in the first half, but then there were moments when we lost vital scrums and line-outs, so it was a mixed bag of different mistakes.

“We were awful in the second half and played better in the opening half.”

Despite losses against Australia and Argentina, South Africa still sit second on the Championship table with six competition points, and have a points differential of just -5 following their first three fixtures.

South Africa now face the unenviable task of getting their campaign back on track in New Zealand next weekend as they risk a third successive defeat.

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