VIDEO: 'I don’t think it was spectacular'

VIDEO: Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus is a hard man to please.

The Boks beat Argentina convincingly by 48-7 in the final round of the Rugby Championship in Mbombela on Saturday but Erasmus said he didn’t think it was a spectacular performance by his charges.

The coach said overall he was happy for South Africa, Eben Etzebeth (on his 128th Springbok cap), and for Manie Libbok, after receiving a lot of flack from fans for missing the vital kick last weekend.

He felt there were stages of brilliance that the Springboks could build on.

“I don’t think it was spectacular.

“When you get to these crunch games it is the older heads and the calm heads that sometimes pull it through.

"While we are trying to play a more attacking game, we still want to be physical, have scrum dominance, and our line-out worked very well tonight [Saturday]," Erasmus told reporters in Mbombela.

"Argentina tired trying to stop our tight five all the time - it was a bit like slow poison.

"It was a learning school for us last week," said the coach.

"I did not expect that sort of scoreline tonight because Argentina is very difficult to play against.

"Things were really tight in the beginning and they kept us out. But we did not want to stand back, it was all about temperament and leadership for us.

"Argentina is physical, nippy, and great on attack.

"We played brilliantly in stages, much better than we did last weekend. It was not perfect, but there was some really good stuff to build on."

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According to Erasmus defence coach Jerry Flannery was a worried man this last week after the team conceded four tries in Argentina a week ago.

“I know Jerry was really nervous during the week because they scored a couple of tries and we kept them out with only one in this game.

“It was gutsy enough and it was enough effort.

“There was brilliant play at stages and a much better performance than that side.

“Not perfect, but I do think really good stuff that we can build on,” the coach conceded, adding that attack coach Tony Brown’s hand is also evident.

“Tony is definitely bringing something to the party.

“We were disappointed in our skills against Argentina last week.

“It is the first time in a long time that we scored seven tries.

“It’s getting better. To go to that more exciting brand of rugby is a bit difficult, but we are getting there,” he commented.

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