Springboks need to figure way back into series after loss to All Blacks

South Africa's rugby coach Rassie Erasmus plans to lie low and avoid newspapers after his team's heavy 33-16 defeat to New Zealand in the opening test of their series. The All Blacks outscored the Springboks five tries to one in what is being marketed as 'Rugby's Greatest Rivalry.'

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We have to find a way to get back, we got a good hiding from a good New Zealand side.

"We have to find a way to get back, we got a good hiding from a good New Zealand side," Erasmus told the post-match news conference. He emphasized the need for the team to work hard and "keep our mouth closed," eschewing excuses for the loss.

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We’ll lay low and not read the papers and work very hard. We have no excuses because we could have won the game.

Erasmus, however, refused to label the defeat a catastrophic setback, drawing parallels to past instances where the team recovered from opening losses, including the 2019 Rugby World Cup and a series against the British and Irish Lions. "So we've been in a lot of catastrophic situations in our lives," he said, highlighting that winning the series now requires winning three consecutive matches.

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We must keep our mouth closed.

While avoiding excuses, Erasmus admitted his team missed opportunities and made poor choices at crucial moments. He noted that New Zealand's intensity and sharpness forced errors, leading to the game slipping away. "When you look in hindsight, there's a lot of opportunities that we didn't convert," he added.

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We've been in many catastrophic situations before.