Rassie: 'It's nice now to go into the next game as the underdogs'

Rassie Erasmus has willingly surrendered the world No.1 tag after the Springboks’ 33-16 defeat at the hands of Dave Rennie’s All Blacks, gladly assuming the “underdog” tag ahead of game 2 in the four-Test series.

The South Africa coach was highly complimentary of his opponents when addressing reporters shortly after the full-time whistle, offering credit for their execution on both sides of the ball and ability to generate a period of game-changing momentum as the match ticked into its final quarter.

The Springboks were as dominant as they could have hoped to be at scrum time for the opening hour of the Test, turning that dominance into points, three at a time. But things turned a corner with 15 minutes to play, with a scrum penalty turning the tide in a hurry.

Erasmus was asked what he put the scrum battle down to: South Africa being in form or New Zealand being off form. Cue the mind-games.

“I don’t think I’m in a position to sit here and say there was anything poor about the All Blacks, because you get a hiding like this, you get soundly beat by a team that is probably now number one in the world,” the coach replied.

“It’s nice now to go into the next game as the underdogs,” he then grinned. “It feels different. No, look, Wilco (Louw) scrummed really well, and that’s why we probably went for the third scrum under the posts. And then the tactical error by Gerhard (Steenekamp) just going by the side, and the ref got him wheeling, correctly.

“I think we were dominant there, but it doesn’t help you as just one part of the game; we want a few parts of the game to be dominant. The All Blacks were probably dominant in most sections of the game.”

Erasmus said that the observation that the late scrum penalty was a major turning point in the match was “spot on”.

“I think it was the right call by the referee. Maybe our suggestion should have been to take the three points, because we were only a few points down at that stage. But they scrummed really well there…

“I thought up until minute 50, we were really dominating territory, possession, and we felt we were really in the game. Against a class team like New Zealand, if you don’t pull through, they give you a reply.”