Rassie vows changes after Springboks gift All Blacks early points

Rassie Erasmus has vowed to ring the changes after watching his side fail to recover from a sloppy start that saw them gift the All Blacks 14 points in their 24-17 defeat at Eden Park.

Erasmus admitted that before the game, he was going to keep changes to a minimum, but would be wielding the axe with some members of his squad set to pay a heavy penalty for almost gift-wrapping the All Blacks a victory.

He pointed out that he was pleased with the impact some of the players who came off the bench had, as they attempted to repair the damage from their slow start and gave their hosts a lead they gratefully received.

Swys De Bruin on facing France and their scrums

Swys De Bruin on facing France and their scrums

“There were many things we did wrong, mainly giving them 14 points and still thinking you are going to win, even though we almost pulled the draw out at the end. I thought that we played well, but they played a lot better.

“There is still a lot to play for next week. Its a crunch game. We will definitely make some changes in our team. Before this game, we thought we would have more or less the same team next week. But we will make a few changes.

“The three backline players who came on really had a good impact. I thought Cobus [Reinach] settled down the breakdown. Sacha [Feinberg-Mngomezulu] was really electric when he had the ball in hand.

“And Ethan [Hooker] was really good in the air for us. There were many things we got wrong, but mostly good,” said a subdued Erasmus.

The Springbok coach acknowledged that his side’s poor start left them chasing their own tail and refused to blame the weather for their defeat.

“14 points, two easy tries, I mean, Malcolm (Marx) played well all over, but he misses that tackle, then I think Willie (Le Roux) will accept, and all of us can accept that was a weird thing he tried to do with that tackle.

“I’m not sure what he was trying to do. The guy just got up and scored the try. Then you are 14 points down and chasing your own tail.

“New Zealand played in exactly the same weather with the same ball, and their ball control was much more steady, and you can’t pinpoint why. I don’t think they did anything illegally. We just didn’t control it well enough,” he added.