South Africa coach Rassie Erasmus admits South Africa rugby “rolled the dice” after the Springboks’ stunning defeat to 11-man Australia in Perth.
After an impressive series win over New Zealand in ‘Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry,’ Erasmus made 13 changes for the one-off Test against the Wallabies.
And the 2027 World Cup hosts were rampant for more than an hour and built a 25-point lead before ill discipline left them down to 11 men for the closing stages.
The Boks were unable to pull off a famous comeback and eventually went down 42-38, with Erasmus dismissing any potential excuses over rotation.
“For us, we lost in a Springbok jersey against Australia, and with all the disruptions, we have nobody else to blame but ourselves for the result,” said Erasmus.
“I know the technology failed a bit, the clock kept running and didn’t stop at times for example, but that didn’t influence how we played. We controlled that. We didn’t play well enough tonight to beat a stronger team.
”When you’re 25 points behind, there’s nobody else to blame but yourself. We rolled the dice a bit, and some guys haven’t played a lot together in a long time, but it’s not an excuse.
“We picked the team, and we had a game plan, and I thought we had a chance at the end, but the better team won on the night. It’s sad to lose, but it’s not because we’ve been together too long. It’s because we didn’t play well enough.”
While Boks captain Andre Esterhuizen added: “It was a very intense game, quite quick for a test match. It let us down, we let them in too much. It hurt us.
“We were too disjointed, discipline, the key factor that let us down. The last 18-19 weeks, we know each other well, the plan well, it’s about executing. Proud of the fight at the end, but we need to be better than that.”
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