Rassie Erasmus and Dave Rennie struck a notably conciliatory tone in their post-match press conferences at the Calabash on Saturday, a marked contrast to the friction of a week earlier when Rennie accused the Springbok front-rowers of walking around the scrum and Erasmus responded with an expletive-laden rebuttal.
After South Africa won the third Test 29-24 to lead the four-match series 2-1, both coaches agreed the margins have been razor-thin throughout. "I don't reckon there's much in it," said Rennie. "I didn't think there was much in the first Test, which we won convincingly in the end, according to the scoreboard, so it's key moments. They made hay when they had momentum tonight; we probably didn't do that enough. I think discipline hurt us at times, and they're the world champions for a reason."
Erasmus echoed that assessment. "I don't think it's necessarily a game plan that won; I thought maybe some individual performances by players turned some big moments in the game."
Erasmus also offered an apology for his language the previous week. "I don't want to swear again because I got into trouble last time, and I really apologise for that last weekend. It was not well-mannered," he said, before adding, with characteristic edge, that the decider in Baltimore is "flipping important."
Rennie confirmed he had no scrummaging complaints after Saturday's match in Soweto. Both coaches planned to share a beer on the chartered flight the two squads took together to Baltimore. "I said to Rassie we would have a beer afterwards, regardless of the result, so we'll do that," said Rennie. Erasmus noted the symmetry: "Hopefully I and Dave will have a beer. His will be a little more bitter, and mine will be a little sweeter."
Erasmus pointed to continuity as one of South Africa's structural advantages going into the series decider, noting that Rennie had coached the All Blacks in only six matches. "We've been together since 2018. He is building a team, and I know what that feels like. Dave and his team will find each other."
Rennie was confident his squad would recover. "The room's pretty gutted. I just walked in there before, and there are a lot of heads down. Our mindset will be to bounce back next week."
Both sides fly to Baltimore carrying injury concerns. Cheslin Kolbe will not travel after sustaining a broken jaw early in the Soweto Test. The All Blacks lost captain Ardie Savea to a dislocated shoulder after 30 minutes, and centre Quinn Tupaea also went off with a knee injury, the severity of which Rennie said he was yet to determine.