Springboks coach Rassie Erasmus was not happy with the team’s discipline despite their convincing 64-21 thrashing of Portugal in their one-off Test in Bloemfontein on Saturday.
The Springboks were reduced to 14 men in the second minute against Portugal following a yellow card for centre Andre Esterhuizen that was upgraded to a red after a bunker review.
The Springboks suffered further yellow cards when wing Kurt-Lee Arendse was sent to the bin for a “croc-roll” late in the first half, while substitute Quan Horn was also carded for a tackling a Portugal player in the air late in the second half.
“I was happy with everything other than discipline – a red card and two yellows is not going to win you World Cups,” said Erasmus.
“We had to make plans on the field to play with 14 – that’s a nice experience.
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“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.”
It would have been a great learning experience for the seven Springbok debutants who took the field at the Free State Stadium
Four of the seven crossed the line to score, with Jan-Hendrik Wessels (prop), Phepsi Buthelezi (loose forward), Horn and Andre-Hugo Venter (replacement hooker) marking their first Springbok cap with a try.
Most of the so-called second-string players performed well, and Erasmus would have been satisfied how the likes of flank Ben Jason-Dixon and hooker Johan Grobbelaar got on following the injuries to Pieter-Steph du Toit and Malcolm Marx in the Ireland series.
The two World Cup winners will miss the start of the Rugby Championship when the Boks travel down under to Australia to face the Wallabies on August 10 and 17. Erasmus will name his squad for the tour on Tuesday.
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“Having seven debutants play with four of them scoring tries makes things interesting when it comes to selecting the squad for the Rugby Championship and the trip to Australia,” said Erasmus.
“I promised the whole squad that everyone would get a game today and at least 20 minutes on the field,” he said. “The way they rewarded us for giving them that chance was really unbelievable. I’m very proud of them.
“We will definitely be slowly integrating some of these players into the squad - some might play against Australia – but then not play against New Zealand – but then come back against Argentina.”
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