Erasmus not fussed by imperfect Boks

Though their overall display was far from perfect, Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus was delighted with his team’s first game of the season against Wales, explaining it would help the players to get up to rhythm quicker than had they played lesser opposition. 

The Boks, playing their first match since the Rugby World Cup final, scored four tries in a 41-13 summer time romp at Twickenham against a team that, for all it’s courage, lacked the skill and, most importantly, power to match them.

That doesn’t mean there weren’t moments that will give Erasmus something to chew on in the next few weeks as he begins the build-up to the highly anticipated clash with Ireland.

“We were concerned that there would be a bit of a hangover after the World Cup,” he said.

“The win is good, it’s nice, but we needed quality opposition, to play away from home, to be put under pressure, and that’s what this game gave us.”

“The scoreline shows we got 40 points, and we conceded one try, but there was one moment where Edwill [van der Merwe] made two tackles to save a try, and they had another moment close to the try line when the ball was held up.

“We dominated the scrums, but not necessarily the collisions and if we had played against a tier 2 team, we may not have understood the areas better that we need to improve. The Welsh are definitely close to the SA mindset and that is what we got out of that today.”

Besides the four debutants, Erasmus was also pleased players who have been sidelined, either through injury or the quirks of the club calendar, were able to get time in the legs ahead of what will be a long international season. 

“We knew it would be stop-start, we’ve not had an opportunity to play a competition like the Six Nations. It wasn’t perfect, there were lots of stupid errors and things that didn’t click.

“But having a game in which we were put under pressure, and giving Jordan [Hendrickse] and Sacha [Feinberg-Mngomezulu] some good ball at stages, was good to see.”

Of the debutants, it was wing Van der Merwe who impressed the most, capping off a fine all round display with a sparkling try five minutes before the final whistle.

“He looked very comfortable and maybe because he’s 28, he slotted in a little easier than the other guys,” Erasmus said of the Lions winger. 

It was a slightly nervier outing for Van der Merwe’s provincial teammate, Jordan Hendrickse, who started at flyhalf, and missed an early penalty that would have eased his anxiety and followed that by putting a restart straight into touch, while a pass out of the back of the hand late in the first half that gave possession back to Wales was injudicious. 

He did show solidity under the highball when full back Aphelele Fassi was in the sin-bin, but it was noticeable how much more composed Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu looked when he was given 20 minutes of match time after replacing Hendrickse. 

“The debutants showed they could play at this level, some need some extra work, but someone like Edwill, has shown he can perform at this level,” Erasmus said.