Rassie laments Willie's early exit

Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus lamented the early departure of playmaker Willie le Roux after his team lost the nail-biting second Test 25-24 at Kings Park on Saturday.

His team had made a stirring comeback after trailing 16-6 at the break with Handré Pollard bang on form with the boot with eight successful penalties.

However, a failure to assert themselves upfront and apply finishing touches when they had try-scoring opportunities, caught up with them as Ireland stunned the crowd as they snatched the match in the dying seconds to square the series.

Replacement back Ciaran Frawley landed two drop goals as Ireland broke the Boks' hearts.

“In the end, it was a really good drop goal, really well executed. We couldn't stop that,” said Erasmus of Frawley's heroics.

“We fought back well in the second half and it wasn't good enough against one of the top teams in the world.”

The Boks perhaps should not have been that vulnerable in the closing minutes, They spurned several opportunities when they made incursions into Ireland's 22.

While Ireland deserve kudos for their organisation and courage on defence the Springboks' failure to score a try will invite questions about the way in which they have adopted attack coach Tony Brown's doctrine.

Though the Springboks didn't play with the width they did at Loftus Versfeld a week earlier, they have very much embraced Brown's philosophy on attack.

They use skip passes when they seek space in wider channels but the new methodology requires more time for refinement. Often the receiver of a bullet pass lost the slightly greasy ball in Durban.

Pollard, though impeccable off the kicking tee, did not orchestrate the Bok passing game in the way they had envisaged. The Boks may have cause to consider how they will further develop their attacking play while seeking to fall on the right side of the scoreline.

It is, however, an attacking philosophy they need to continue to pursue.

They often lacked the telling final pass, a discipline in which Le Roux has delivered time and again.

Le Roux however was concussed in the opening move of the game and never returned after undergoing a head injury assessment. He was replaced by Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu who injected speed and urgency but Erasmus craved Le Roux's nous in collective attack.

“I think when Willie is there our attack functions a bit better, but Sacha definitely brings something else to the game, which is individual brilliance, not structural stuff,” noted the coach.

It was Feinberg-Mngomezulu who helped bring a spring to the Boks' step after the hosts went into the break 16-6 down.

“He definitely did not look out of place in his third Test. The experience Sacha got against a team that is really well organised, rated in the top two in the world the last couple of years, he will take that going forward.

“When a guy like Gazza (Damian Willemse) comes back and Canan (Moodie) comes back it will be interesting to see how they fight for those different spots,” explained the coach.

A misfiring attack wasn't the only area in which the Boks fell short. Their maul was stopped in its tracks and their line-out again lacked authority in the first 50 minutes. Erasmus does not think this is cause for concern.

“We don't actually want to maul against Ireland because they are very technical and they have a unique way of stopping it,” the coach explained. “Not a lot of teams get good results from mauling against them.”

About the line-outs, he said: “I don't think we lost that many and we put them under as much pressure. If you're coaching against Paul O'Connell (former Ireland lock and captain) you are always under pressure. Our options from the line-outs could have been better.

“With so many blood incidents for our locks, our hookers had a new jumper every time. It wasn't perfect but it wasn't the main concern,” Erasmus stressed.

The Boks will move on to Bloemfontein with much to populate their drawing board and the coaches' minds. The Boks will meet Portugal and are set to push a much-changed team into battle.

Apart from Le Roux's concussion, there is concern over the knee injury Malcolm Marx sustained. “Malcolm's knee is a bit worrying. He was hobbling after that incident,” said Erasmus about the hooker being unceremoniously removed from a ruck.

“Next week we pick a totally different team. Our team has been announced internally. The boys who are here will help them until Wednesday for Portugal. Then they'll have a 10-day break,” explained the coach.