By Mark Gleeson
JOHANNESBURG, Sept 5 – South Africa beat New Zealand for a second successive weekend to move ahead in the test series dubbed “Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry” but winning coach Rassie Erasmus said there remained little between the top two ranked teams in the game.
South Africa’s 29-24 victory at Soccer City on Saturday put them 2-1 ahead in the four-match series, but the All Blacks have a chance to level it up when the final game is played in Baltimore in the United States next weekend.
“I thought it was an epic game and it was intense, a fierce battle in all departments, and I think the scoreboard at the end showed how close the game was,” Erasmus told the post-match press conference.
“We’re just happy we won and now we must try and replicate that in Baltimore.”
South Africa’s forward power proved decisive in the end, as was the case in last weekend’s second test in Cape Town, but again the world champions were run close.
“The way New Zealand handle the ball, they’re certainly brilliant at that, and they play to their strengths. It is a style that is hard to defend against. We were certainly nervous and I think they were nervous too,” Erasmus added.
“It’s massive this, you’re playing number one and two in the world, and it certainly lives up to that and I can tell you now we’re not sitting here thinking, we are all flipping awesome. We’re thinking there was also a lot of luck that went our way.”
Erasmus must now do without speedy wing, and first-choice kicker, Cheslin Kolbe for the U.S. trip after he broke his jaw in the first half.
The series has been characterised as a clash between Bok brute strength and New Zealand pace and finesse with the ball but Erasmus insisted the scrum battle had also been close.
“I don’t think we were dominant at scrum time today. I think it was pretty even and it could easily have gone against us,” said the Springbok coach.
“We love our set-piece, we love scrumming but we love mauling just as much. It’s not really a South African thing to obsess over the scrum. There were scrums tonight where we were under real pressure and we were relieved when they got the ball away rather than resetting again and again.”
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