Rassie Erasmus was candid after the Springboks' 17-10 Rugby Championship victory over Argentina at Estadio José Amalfitani in Buenos Aires on Saturday, acknowledging the performance was far from polished but praising the character of a squad carrying significant rust.
The match was level at 10-10 at half-time before Cameron Hanekom's try in the fourth quarter proved the decisive score. Argentina pressed hard in the closing minutes but the Boks held firm.
"Our focus was purely on beating Argentina today, and we had a tough day out there," Erasmus said. "We looked leg-weary early on, gave up a lot of territory, and made errors which we knew were likely with seven or eight players having played very little rugby in the last six or seven weeks."
Erasmus had left 15 players back in South Africa, and the lack of match sharpness among returning injured players was visible throughout. He was nevertheless encouraged by the defensive effort, conceding only one try — which came from an offload he felt should have been stopped — and pointed to attack as the primary area needing improvement.
"A number of players were short on game time returning from injury, but getting them through 80 minutes was always going to affect our fluency. The positive is that we got them through the game."
Erasmus was measured about the broader significance of the result: "The lesson is that knockout-level rugby is always close. Even if we had drawn tonight, we would have still learned a lot about grinding out a result with a crowd going wild. For us to stay calm through that, even without playing our best rugby, tells me we're handling pressure a little better than before."
Siya Kolisi, who left the field in the first half with a hamstring injury, was equally respectful of the hosts. "We could easily have lost this game. Home or away, they're one of the toughest teams we play all year," he said.