A heavily rotated Springbok side survived a testing encounter with Scotland to claim a 42-28 victory in their Nations Championship match at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday.
The Boks ran in six tries to Scotland’s four in a contest that swung back and forth throughout, with the halftime score locked at 14-14.
Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus made 10 changes to the starting lineup that had defeated England 45-21 the previous weekend, fielding a side with 12 players who had fewer than 10 test caps.
The victory keeps South Africa at the top of the Southern Hemisphere conference on points difference from New Zealand, with both nations on a maximum of 10 log points.
“It’s much nicer when you win and you learn than when you lose and you learn,” Erasmus said after the match.
“There was a stage in 2018 when we were learning but we were losing – but it was important to find out who can do it at this level and who needs some work.”
The Boks opened strongly, scoring two tries within two minutes to lead 14-0. They later added three tries in an eight-minute spell in the second half to stretch their advantage to 35-14, but Scotland responded with quick tries of their own on both occasions.
“We had 12 guys who each had less than 10 caps – half the team – so we knew cohesion was going to be a problem,” Erasmus said.
“That you could see in the defence when we made some subs at the end. We learned a lot about some players – not that they are not good enough – but that there’s a lot of work to be done.”
The coach acknowledged the risk involved in making such sweeping changes but expressed confidence that the South African public understood the team’s development strategy.
“I don’t think the crowd was happy at the end, but I think South Africa understands what we tried to do in this game,” he said.
“In the past I felt if we made four changes people would ask ‘what are you doing?’ But I feel the interaction between us and the supporters – through the media – gives us a togetherness and people know what we are trying to do.”
Erasmus said the lessons learned justified the experimental approach, even if it meant putting the team’s winning record on the line.
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“Sometimes we must put our personal goals to one side of how many games you’ve won in a row or even putting winning this championship on the line so that you can know who can do what,” he said.
“If you don’t make those calls you would never know. When do you do it? Are you always going to do it when you play a team that’s not of this calibre – because I think they are a great team.”
He added that Scotland had presented a tougher challenge than England the previous week.
“The way they smashed Argentina, the way they beat England, the way they beat France and were playing just four months ago in the Six Nations, we knew it was going to be a really tough game,” Erasmus said.
The Springboks complete the July leg of the Nations Championship against Wales at Hollywoodbets Kings Park on Saturday.
