Rassie Erasmus has taken the blame for the Springboks’ slow start against France in Paris, saying “we sort of played ourselves into that hole” and that a tentative team is “probably the coaching staff”.
The Springboks trailed France 21-7 at half-time at the Stade de France on Friday. They won the second half 12-0 but lost 21-19.
Erasmus was asked why the Springboks keep falling behind early against France. He refused the excuses on offer, from a freak French try to a short turnaround.
Was it the coaches or the players who froze in that first half? Tell us in the comments.
READ MORE: France vs South Africa match report and full stats: Les Bleus hold on 21-19
‘No defensive system that can stop that’
One of France’s three first-half tries came when a pass hit centre Kalvin Gourgues in the face and bounced forward for Théo Attissogbe to score.
“One try was beautiful, the other one bounced off his head,” Erasmus said. “… There’s no defensive system that can stop that.”
He did not hide behind it.
“But of all of the things that went wrong, you know, we sort of played ourselves into that hole,” he said. “It wasn’t like they forced us into that, playing that way. It was almost like we uncharacteristically was a little bit tentative tonight. And when something like that happens, it’s probably the coaching staff.”
‘Something I have to find out’
“That’s something I have to find out and look the whole night through why that happened, and look at the week,” Erasmus said.
The Boks had a six-day turnaround after beating Italy 66-7 in Turin on Saturday 7 November. France beat Fiji 54-17 in Lyon the same day. Erasmus would not lean on it.
“We only had two training sessions, six days turnaround. They had the same,” he said. “They even played later than us last week, they played 9 o’clock in the evening. So they even had a shorter turnaround. So no, I don’t think there’s much more to blame than ourselves.”
READ MORE: Springboks player ratings vs France: an 8 for Pieter-Steph du Toit
‘The discipline cost us’
The cards made the hole deeper. Lood de Jager was sin-binned in the first half for a high tackle on Maxime Lucu, and Jasper Wiese was shown a yellow card early in the second half for a dangerous clean-out on Gourgues, upgraded to a 20-minute red. France had three players sin-binned of their own: Lucu, Aaron Grandidier-Nkanang and Régis Montagne.
“I don’t think any of that was intentional, but I agree that it should have been cards,” Erasmus said. “So we can’t moan about that.”
He took one thing from the second half. “If you must look for something that’s positive is the effort, the grind,” he said.
“So I guess the frustration is, yes, the discipline cost us. And then to lose by two points, to lose by any amount is terrible.”
The Springboks play Ireland in Dublin next.
READ MORE: Rassie Erasmus: Boks ‘killed our dreams’ in Nations Championship
Watch Rassie Erasmus and Siya Kolisi’s full post-match press conference after France 21-19 South Africa:
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