Rassie Erasmus admits nerves are building before crucial All Blacks Test

Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus says he is feeling nervous ahead of Saturday’s second Test against the All Blacks, with South Africa needing victory in Cape Town to keep their hopes of winning the Greatest Rivalry series alive.

New Zealand lead 1-0 after beating the Springboks 33-16 at Ellis Park last Saturday. Three Test matches remain, but another defeat at Cape Town Stadium would mean South Africa could no longer win the series and would only be able to draw it.

Erasmus acknowledged the significance of the match when he spoke to reporters on Tuesday.

“I’m definitely nervous again,” said Erasmus.

“We’re one game down, and if we don’t win this game, we can’t win the series; we can only draw it.

“Nerves are there for sure. But we’ve been under this kind of pressure a lot, and hopefully we can turn things around this weekend.”

The Springboks have spent the days since the opening Test reviewing their performance and preparing for the second meeting with New Zealand. Erasmus said the coaching staff believed South Africa had controlled much of the match in Johannesburg before errors began to undermine their efforts during the closing stages.

“When we reviewed the game on Monday, we felt we were very dominant throughout up until about the 60-minute mark, and we were just a bit inaccurate in a few departments,” he said.

“That’s what this week is for. Luckily in this competition we’ve still got three chances to keep going and get our game better.”

Although South Africa were unable to convert their performance into a victory, Erasmus said the players had followed many of the instructions given to them before the match. He rejected the suggestion that the defeat could be placed solely on the team.

“A lot of the things we asked the players to do, they did. The plan didn’t win the game for us, but it’s definitely also not the players who lost the game.”

The Springboks coach also accepted responsibility for some of the decisions made by the coaching group during the match.

“I’m taking responsibility for some of the decisions we made. We’re a group, but I think it’s a relevant point to explain why we lost, and some of it falls more on me than on the players, to be honest.”

South Africa now have an immediate opportunity to respond to the heavy defeat at Ellis Park. The second Test in the series will be played at Cape Town Stadium on Saturday, with kick-off scheduled for 17:10.

Victory would prevent New Zealand from taking an unassailable advantage and allow the Springboks to continue competing for the series. A second successive defeat, however, would leave South Africa unable to finish as overall winners, although they could still draw the contest with three Tests remaining.