Springboks dominate Barbarians, but Rassie Erasmus calls for improvement ahead of Italy Tests

Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus says they won’t get too carried away with their rout of the Barbarians, but he was happy with the platform they laid in a rainy DHL Stadium on Saturday evening to start their season with a 54-7 rout of the visitors.

The world champions showed their mettle and were absolutely dominant in the second half to put eight tries past their opponents to claim a famous victory over the invitational side.

With it, they won the ninth encounter between them and drew level with wins in the first-ever clash on South African soil. Both sides have won four, while one duel ended in a draw.

Despite the wet Cape Town conditions, rain fell right through the clash, and Erasmus’ troops acquitted themselves well of their task. For most of the match, they looked sharp on the attack, and defensively they kept the Baabaas out to only concede a try in the dying minutes of the duel.

“I am happy about the win, but there are lots for us to work on,” Erasmus said in his post-match interview.

“To keep them only to seven points and us getting to the score we had, we are happy with that, and no injuries were picked up. Some guys got a hit-out today who haven’t played for a while. Other guys do not have a lot of caps. We are glad we came through it.

“For the Barbarians, this was probably the worst conditions to play in. We had to keep some structure, so overall it was satisfying, and now the Test matches start.”

Erasmus was pleased with several aspects of their play, but also with a couple of players that put their hand up to be selected for the first Test against Italy next Saturday. He added that they will name two sides on Sunday who will take part in the series against the Azzurri.

The first match is in Pretoria, with the second in a couple of weeks in Gqeberha.

“We won’t get carried away with this victory. We played at home against a side that only practiced together a few times. Certain things came through, but we want to get better. We will focus on ourselves for the next three matches; Georgia will also be a grind. We want to get better.

“If the weather was drier, I think some of the linebreaks would’ve stuck. But we were too ambitious with some offloads. After halftime when we spoke about it, the guys were more conservative, and we got more points. We can’t wait to play on a dry pitch.”