South Africa prop Ox Nche said that the Springboks ‘went off script’ in the second half of Springboks’ 22-38 Rugby Championship defeat to Australia on Saturday, while coach Rassie Erasmus was less diplomatic.
The defending champions were expected to secure the win against the Wallabies at home at Ellis Park, but the latter were somewhat surprising victors as the Boks ran out of defensive steam after captain Siya Kolisi went off injured.
Nche, who was visibly annoyed by the defeat, said afterwards: “At halftime, the chat was simply to stick to the plan and execute things, as it was working. But we just went off the script in the second half.
“They scored three easy tries early on, and it wasn’t from a good set piece. They were just more active and ready, and they pounced ahead.
“They just seemed more prepared than we were, and they used every opportunity they got, whereas we didn’t. Everyone just started going off on their own plan instead of sticking to the plan we had as a team.”
Springboks director of rugby Rassie Erasmus was typically blunt in his assessment of the match, saying: “This is probably one of the most embarrassing press conferences I’ve done in a while.
“We gave them one or two soft tries – an intercept here from a Manie Libbok pass, a pass from André Esterhuizen that went to them, and that let them back into the game.
“It wasn’t just tactical – they also physically dominated us. The longer the game went on, the stronger they got. At altitude, that’s supposed to be us. It shows what (Wallabies coach) Joe Schmidt is building there.”
He then added: “The saddest thing is five log points for them, and we didn’t even fight back to take the bonus point away. So we’re on zero, they’re on five. I can butter this up to sound cool and respectful, but we were really dog s**t on the day.”
Looking ahead to the second clash against the Aussies next weekend, Nche said there would be no time to relax: “We want to win the Rugby Championship. This coming weekend is a must-win Test and we have to get as many points as we can.
“For me personally, it means more hard work, more preparation, and to be better prepared. To do whatever you did last week, and do more of it. The only thing we can do is to execute better.”
Again, Erasmus was more direct, but adding that the coaching staff had a role to play too: “We have to look first at ourselves before we point fingers at the players.
“From now until next Saturday, we’ll take a lot of flak, but, to be fair, we take the credit when we’re doing well, so we must take the flak when we’re doing badly. We’re very disappointed, feeling bad for our supporters and our players.
“A player doesn’t just do what he wants out there; we guide them and we pick the combinations. If it doesn’t work, maybe the combinations were wrong, maybe the plans were wrong, maybe the half-time talk was terrible.”
