The Springboks and SA 'A' both posted convincing wins at Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium on Saturday, but coaches Rassie Erasmus and Mzwandile Stick were measured in their assessments, identifying clear areas to address before the Nations Championship begins in a fortnight.
The Springboks ran out 80-31 winners against the Barbarians while SA 'A' shut out Zimbabwe 40-0, yet neither coach was fully satisfied with the execution.
Erasmus pointed to discipline as a primary concern after the Boks conceded yellow cards and allowed the Barbarians to cross for several tries in quick succession. "Our discipline wasn't great, and they scored tries in quick succession, so yellow cards were not ideal," he said, adding context around the Barbarians having had only three training sessions together. He acknowledged the disruption caused by uncertainty over the availability of Stormers and Bulls players and noted that six or seven months without Test rugby together made the performance understandable, if not acceptable. "To score 80 points is nice, but we need to eliminate those defensive lapses and be better as a unit when we play against England."
A more immediate concern is Franco Mostert, who left the field with an ankle injury. Erasmus confirmed Mostert was set for scans and said he was worried about the extent of the damage.
Kolisi was similarly measured, acknowledging that the team executed parts of their plan well but identified moments where they deviated from it. "There were opportunities where I thought we could have controlled things better," he said.
Stick's SA 'A' side kept a clean sheet but were not without their own frustrations, with two first-half tries disallowed — one for a player going into touch and another for an offside at the kick. Stick credited Zimbabwe's direct, ball-in-hand approach for making the afternoon more demanding than the scoreline suggests. "It was sometimes frustrating when the points weren't coming," he said, though he was encouraged by the team's resilience under pressure given that the majority of players had not previously combined.
Captain Vincent Tshituka acknowledged the quality of the opposition, noting that Zimbabwe — who have qualified for the 2027 Rugby World Cup — arrived motivated to test themselves against world-class competition.