Discipline concerns Springboks coach Rassie Erasmus after red card and three yellows
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Portugal's Jose Paiva dos Santos is tackled by South Africa's Quan Horn during the International rugby union match in Bloemfontein on July 20.
PHOTO: AFP
BLOEMFONTEIN – South Africa coach Rassie Erasmus said improving discipline would be a pivotal part of their Rugby Championship focus after a 64-21 triumph over Portugal in a one-off Test on July 20.
The four-time world champions were down to 14 men as early as the second minute in Bloemfontein and twice had only 13 players on the pitch.
Andre Esterhuizen was given an early yellow card for head-on-head contact after a crunching tackle forced fellow centre Jose Lima to retire concussed. The yellow card was later upgraded to a red by an off-field official.
South Africa also had wing Kurt-Lee Arendse yellow-carded in the 35th minute for a dangerous clear-out at a ruck.
With six minutes remaining, debutant replacement fullback Quan Horn was also sent to the sin bin after playing an opponent in the air.
“Discipline is something we will need to look at after getting a red card so early. We had nearly 20 minutes with 13 men and the rest with 14,” Erasmus said.
“Obviously, we won’t win World Cups like that. So that is something we will focus on. But the incidents were all accidents – they were not things the players did on purpose.
“We had to adapt to having 14 or 13 men, so that was a good thing. You get to learn the character of players in matches like this. On the field, the players can get rattled or stay calm, so there were big learnings from that tonight.”
Conceding 10 tries but scoring three was no disgrace for Portugal in their first meeting with South Africa, and coach Simon Mannix said he could not have been prouder of his team.
“The lessons were enormous tonight and we were monstered in a lot of areas,” said the New Zealand-born coach.
“The physicality of the Springboks was something else and the players felt it was two or three levels higher than what they experienced in the 2023 World Cup. There is a huge gulf between being ranked first and 15th in the world.”
South Africa begin their Rugby Championship campaign against Australia in Brisbane on Aug 10.
On July 21, Italy beat Japan 42-14 in Sapporo in a game that saw fly-half Paolo Garbisi stretchered off in the second half after a heavy collision.
The Italian fly-half was apparently knocked unconscious after taking a blow to the head in an accidental clash with Japan centre Dylan Riley – similar to the incident in the South Africa game.
Defeat left Japan coach Eddie Jones still looking for his first win since returning to the job at the start of the year, having also lost at home to England and Georgia.
Japan’s next games will be in the new-look Pacific Nations Cup, which starts on Aug 23.
“Credit to the Italy team, they came out and put us under some real pressure early. We’ve got to look forward, review this, and then come back stronger,” said Riley. AFP
