Rassie Erasmus admits Rugby Championship win has left Springboks with a ‘problem’ as he states there is ‘a lot to fix’

Springboks head coach Rassie Erasmus and the team celebrate Rugby Championship win.

Rassie Erasmus insists that the search for consistency continues, although he claims there are various factors which contributed to their mixed performances in the Rugby Championship.

South Africa did just enough to retain the title they won in 2024 as they edged past Argentina 29-27 at Allianz Stadium, Twickenham, to go back above New Zealand in the table.

Erasmus stated during the week that they are still ‘chasing the perfect game’ despite big victories over the All Blacks and Los Pumas.

Before those impressive displays, the Boks suffered defeats to Australia in Johannesburg and New Zealand at Eden Park.

Their long-term focus undoubtedly remains on the 2027 Rugby World Cup, and that was shown by the head coach’s squad rotation, but Erasmus also desperately wanted to win the competition.

‘Not just focusing on World Cups’

“Obviously, we’re trying to find the perfect game and I don’t think anybody did it in the Rugby Championship. Yes, it’s a problem that we have but I think most teams have that,” he told reporters.

“One of our goals was to stay in the present, do well and not just focus on World Cups like a lot of people want us to do, although we understand why they say that.

“We believe that when we give different combinations a chance, different guys under pressure a chance, you will have a little bit of a lack of rhythm.

“There were patches where we were brilliant and then two tries were handed to them – they didn’t have to do a lot there. Those moments we must cut out.

“In the Rugby Championship, I think we did better than the other three teams playing in the competition. It’s a problem but I don’t think it’s one of the biggest problems that some of the other teams might have.”

Erasmus also highlighted some of the injuries they have suffered this year, which have certainly not helped their strive for consistency in performance.

“We’ve used close to 47 players and we gave a lot of guys chances. I would love to give Faf [de Klerk] more chance, would love to give Franco Mostert more chance,” he said.

“Handre [Pollard] played close to the same minutes as the fly-halves. I thought Boan [Venter] and Marnus [van der Merwe] played really well when they had the opportunities, Lood [de Jager] when he had his chance.

“We must be honest with ourselves. Ntuthuko Mchunu’s not here, Gerhard Steenekamp’s not here, Salmaan Moerat’s not here, Cameron Hanekom’s not here, Evan Roos is not here, Elrigh Louw is not here, and I could go on.

“Edwill [van der Merwe] is not here, Kurt-Lee [Arendse] is not here, [Aphelele] Fassi is not here, so we also had to dig deep and guys who we thought would play a lot for us are injured currently or didn’t get enough game time.”

Springboks depth

After a difficult start, the Rugby Championship ended in success for the Springboks as they lifted the trophy and also exposed some more inexperienced players to the highest level.

“If we played the same team the whole year, the consistency might have been better, and we might have had longer spells in games where it goes well,” Erasmus added.

“A lot of that is taking a risk.

“We all remember when we went down in Auckland, we were basically third in the table and we had to go and beat New Zealand in Wellington with five points. And then we had to go and beat Argentina in South Africa with five points, and then we had to win a game here.

“I think the character was okay, but tactically there are a lot of things to fix. Definitely trying to build squad depth played a role in the lack of continuity.”