Erasmus takes blame for Springboks' tactical mistakes against All Blacks

The Springboks scored just one try from 11 visits to the All Blacks' 22-metre area in the shock 33-16 defeat at Ellis Park, and while Erasmus admitted that some of the team's decision-making and execution let them down, the Bok coach also questioned some of his own calls and tactics during the match.

"I think we didn't get what we wanted from the bench because the guys who started didn't convert when we were there and when we were inside the 22. I mean, we had 11 22 entries, and we got one reward from it," Erasmus said.

"So, if the guys who started - and I'm including coaches there - didn't convert, I think we, me personally, made some wrong calls on some of the tactics we wanted to try and do inside the 22. It didn't work, and that's on me."

Erasmus was particularly critical of a period around the 55th or 60th minute when the Springboks had three scrums in the middle of the field but failed to make the most of them.

"I say it again, wrong call. Take these three points. There are no bonus points," he said. "So, it's a great opportunity lost by us, which we caused ourselves."

Erasmus also admitted that he should have handled the backline reshuffle following Kurt-Lee Arendse's injury differently.

"For the first time in a long time, the 5-3/6-2 experiment backfired on us, and I'll say it as it is," he said.

"When Kurt-Lee got injured, Jesse [Kriel] went to wing, Damian [de Allende] went to outside centre, Andre [Esterhuizen], where we would have liked to play him as an impact flanker, had to go to 12, and then the whole backline was a little bit disjointed.

"Probably a better thing would have been to put Gaza [Damian Willemse] on the wing, put Sacha [Feinberg-Mngomezulu] at fullback and put Manie [Libbok] at 10," he said. "Then the 12-13 stays intact."

Despite acknowledging that his team had periods of good play in the opener, Erasmus admitted that ultimately the result was what mattered.

"I would rather play bad and win than play good and lose because I thought for quite a number of minutes we played well, but we lost," he said.

"That's frustrating. And now, you know, I don't want to make excuses because what happened to us is on me and us as a team.

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