Rassie Erasmus proud as Boks seal back-to-back Rugby Championship titles

South Africa made history by defending their Rugby Championship title for the first time ever, beating Argentina 29–27 in a tense finale at Twickenham Stadium on Saturday.

Erasmus says he’s under no illusions about the challenge that lay ahead, with a tough end-of-year tour still looming.

"Argentina came out really playing well and loosening the game up, and we missed a few tackles and so on, got a yellow card obviously," said Erasmus. 

"I'm not criticising the referee, but I'm pretty sure Canan [Moodie] was lucky that the one he tapped back, it was almost two yellow cards and could've been red card.

"So overall, I'm not blaming the referee, I'm just saying there were close calls that could've changed the game even more, but we always knew Argentina have massive fight in them, they take it to the gutters, and we had to swim in the gutters with them."

The Rugby Championship ended with South Africa and New Zealand tied on 19 points, but the four-time World Champions boast a superior points difference. Australia and Argentina ended on 11 and 10 points, respectively.

READ: Ex-Wales great backs Springboks for historic World Cup three-peat

Erasmus says the team showed good control across matches, even when momentum shifted, and that managing those moments under pressure will be key going forward.

"One of our goals is to stay in the present, do well and not just focus on World Cups like a lot of people want us to do, and we understand why we say that," he added.

"We believe that when we use different combinations, give different guys chances under pressure, you'll have a little bit of lack of rhythm, and there were patches today where we were brilliant and then I think two of the tries we just handed to them.

"Obviously those moments also happened last week, and it's moments we must cut out, but I think in The Rugby Championship we did it better than the other three teams.

"So, while it is a problem, I don't think it's one of the bigger problems that some of the other teams might have."