Rassie Erasmus admits Springboks only have themselves to blame after Wallabies defeat

Springbok head coach Rassie Erasmus has admitted that his team only has themselves to blame for their defeat against the Wallabies. Despite playing 11 men due to a series of yellow cards for various infringements, the world champions lost 42-38 in Perth, marking their second loss of the season. Erasmus made 13 changes to the starting lineup, which made it difficult to maintain cohesion.

However, the Springboks' inability to capitalize on opportunities in the first half and allowing the Wallabies to dictate the game put them in a disadvantageous position. Erasmus acknowledged their errors despite external factors such as communication breakdown between the match officials. The referee, Andrea Piardi, had no communication with his Television Match Official and had to rely on a cellphone call to get messages, causing play to continue for a while before the TMO intervened.

Erasmus stated that while the technology failure didn't influence how they played, they control how they play and didn't perform well enough to secure a victory. Captain André Esterhuizen expressed disappointment but pride in their fight towards the end, noting that they should never have been in such a situation. The final 10 minutes were intense, with the Boks showing character, but ultimately, they left themselves too much to do with too little time left on the clock.