Rassie Erasmus identifies worrying Springbok trend ahead of final All Blacks Test
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Rassie Erasmus has identified a worrying trend the Springboks need to address ahead of Saturday’s fourth and final Test against the All Blacks in Baltimore.
South Africa head into the series finale with a 2-1 lead after back-to-back victories in Cape Town and Soweto, but Erasmus believes his side have struggled to close out matches as strongly as they would like.
“We always want to try and play better, and there are a lot of areas where we can get better,” Erasmus said.
“In the last two Test matches, we were ahead by 14 points with only five or six minutes to go, and the All Blacks finished strongly to make it a seven-point or very close result.
“That says we didn’t handle the last 10 minutes well, especially in the first Test when we had two yellow cards.”
Erasmus also believes the Springboks have lacked consistency across their performances against New Zealand, particularly in attack and defence.
“I don’t think we’ve been consistent,” he said.
“If we can get consistency in the way we play, both on attack and defence, that would be excellent.
“I know a lot of people are talking about our defence, but when you play against New Zealand, it is tough to defend. They attack really well, so we want to get better there.
“But in all areas, we felt that in the last 10 minutes we haven’t been as good as we have been in the past. We felt we let it slip a little bit in the last three games and we want to get better at that.”
The Springboks responded to their 33-16 defeat in the opening Test with a 33-26 victory in Cape Town before beating the All Blacks 29-24 at FNB Stadium last weekend.
Erasmus has made just two changes to his starting XV for the Baltimore decider, with Morné van den Berg starting at scrum-half and Damian Willemse replacing the injured Cheslin Kolbe at fullback.
A third successive victory would see South Africa complete a 3-1 series win, while an All Blacks victory would leave the Greatest Rivalry series level at 2-2.
