Springboks keep champagne on ice despite sparkling 67-point blitz against Argentina

The Springboks were all smiles on Saturday night after they put 67 sparkling points past Argentina in Durban, but Siya Kolisi and Rassie Erasmus said the champagne is on ice until they complete the Rugby Championship job in London this week.

The Boks are tantalisingly close to making history by defending their Rugby Championship title, something they have never achieved since the tournament’s inception in 1996. With one round remaining, they top the log with 15 points, followed by New Zealand (14), Australia (11) and Argentina (9).

“We’re flying tomorrow and we’re playing at Twickenham next week, and we have to win that game or it’s just another missed Rugby Championship,” Erasmus said after Saturday night’s astonishing display at Kings Park.

The Boks scored nine tries, and their handsome points tally gives them a healthy points differential compared to second-placed New Zealand.

“The main thing we take out of this game is that we are building a nice understanding between the players, in that we can swap combinations in and out without any change to the performance. But we’ve won nothing yet in this Championship; we’ve had one win and one loss against New Zealand and Australia, and we know Argentina will come even harder in London.”

Still, it is hard to see the South African challenge faltering at the last hurdle — across their last two matches, the Boks have scored 15 tries and 110 points.

Erasmus had to juggle his backline with injuries to Cheslin Kolbe (shoulder), Damian Willemse (hamstring) and Ethan Hooker (ankle) in the second half, which meant the team finished with an entirely reshuffled backline without missing a beat.

“It takes time to swap people in and out and have them play in sync — but we also know how quickly that can change, so we won’t get carried away,” said Erasmus.

Kolisi said he was pleased with how the team reacted after an arm wrestle in the first half hour.

“We expected a tough start,” the captain said. “We knew what Argentina were going to bring — they are a proud team. They took their opportunities in the first half when we made our mistakes. The way we gathered ourselves was impressive; no one dropped their heads.”

“The main message at half-time was that we were making stupid errors and giving away momentum,” Kolisi added. “In the second half, we came back composed.”

Kolisi stressed that the Boks would quickly move on to ensure they are ready for the Twickenham finale.

“We know how tough it is going to be next week. We have been here before. The job is not finished yet. Next week, we are going to go as hard as we can and make sure we win the competition.”

The Bok skipper praised his teammates for their resilience over the course of a season where things haven’t always gone their way.

“We don’t promise to win every game, but we promise to give our best. That is the resilience we show every day.”

Kolisi was full of praise for Player of the Match Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, who contributed a record 37 points on the night, including a hat-trick of tries.

“Sacha was amazing — not just in the way he scored tries but in the way he controlled the game,” he said. “The guys around him helped him make decisions, but when we click as a team, every single player can show who they are. That’s what the coaches always speak to us about.

“They pick us for certain reasons — we all have a particular strength — and one of Sacha’s is running with the ball. But other players have to do their jobs to put him in the position to do what he does. He was amazing today. He took charge, which is what we wanted him to do. Hopefully, he can continue this form next week.”

Kolisi also picked out an emerging maturity within the group: “What stood out for me was that I saw so many guys come out of their shells today. We believe in shared leadership — there is not one leader — and when we made a mistake, it wasn’t just one voice changing something.

“We had more experienced guys listening to players who don’t even have a double-figure number of caps — and that’s what makes our team special.”