Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus has heaped praise at the squad that walloped Portugal 64-21 in Bloemfontein on Saturday. The squad featured seven debutants, and four of them, Jan-Hendrik Wessels, Phepsi Buthelezi, Horn and Andre-Hugo Venter, scored tries. Kurt-Lee Arendse, Ben-Jason Dixon, Lukhanyo Am also scored a try each, and Makazole Mapimpi scored three of them.
“I was happy with everything other than discipline, a red card and two yellows is not going to win you World Cups.We had to make plans on the field to play with 14, that’s a nice experience.It wasn’t a beautiful match at times, and it didn’t look like we were going to punish them with 50 points, but the crowd never got negative, and I think that helped the players,” said an elated Erasmus during a post-match briefing.
The coach said the team’s excellent performance has now left him with a headache on which players to include when he announced his squad on Tuesday for the Castle Lager Rugby Championship and tour of Australia.
“Having seven debutants play with four of them scoring tries makes things interesting when it comes to selecting the squad for the Castle Lager Rugby Championship and the trip to Australia.I promised the whole squad that everyone would get a game today and at least 20 minutes on the field.The way they rewarded us for giving them that chance was really unbelievable. I’m very proud of them,” explained Erasmus. Meanwhile, new Bok captain Salaam Moerat praised the team and their opponents.
“They showed what a quality side they are.They took us coast-to-coast and there were stages where we were looking for our breath! When we went down to 14, we knew we had to work ever harder as a tight five.
But a lot of credit needs to go to Manie Libbok and Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu and the way they managed that situation without an inside centre,” said Moerat.
The Boks next match is against Australia in Brisbane on 10 August.
