By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
@GettyImages.
Springbok coach coach Rassie Erasmus has said that his side will “definitely enjoy” their record defeat over the All Blacks in the Rugby Championship,
South Africa beat New Zealand 43-10 in Wellington to revive their Rugby Championship campaign.
It was the All Blacks’ biggest defeat ever, while it also catapulted the Boks back to the top of the world rankings and saw them retain the Freedom Cup for the second year in a row.
Erasmus said: “We’ve been on the other side of such a result when we lost 57-0 against them, and they managed to retain their win record at Eden Park and didn’t throw it in our faces, but we’ll take this win, and we are very happy with the result.
“We do have a couple of injuries, which we do not know the extent of yet, but the two that appear to be serious are Lood (de Jager) and Aphelele (Fassi).”
Erasmus praised the die-hard Springbok supporters for their faith in the team and the coaching staff after naming a new look backline for the clash and said he was thrilled that the team could make the country proud once again.
He also emphasised the role of the senior players in the group who stood by the younger players and helped them get ready for the Wellington showdown.
“We’re getting better. The way the guys who didn’t play last week really helped prepare the younger guys, was good to see. The next game’s result will show us where we really are.”
Erasmus said while the world now caught a glimpse of what the future of Springbok rugby looks like, he has a squad of highly-motivated players.
“We’re a group of 45 players and these were just the guys playing tonight. Of course, they put up their hands but we’ve got some solid guys who didn’t play tonight. So we’re very proud.”
The Springboks may have reclaimed the top spot on the world rankings with this victory, but Erasmus was careful to let the victory cloud the team’s judgement about the challenge ahead against Argentina, who edged Australia 28-26 in their round-four encounter in Sydney earlier on Saturday.
Boks will make the journey back to South Africa in the early hours of Sunday morning and will reassemble in camp on Thursday.