After a 29-24 win at FNB Stadium that puts the Boks 2-1 up in the series, Erasmus was in a reflective rather than triumphalist mood. He framed the result as a product of seven years of accumulated cohesion — the same continuity he's been deliberately rebuilding post-World Cup — and was careful to credit New Zealand's ball-handling quality and their ability to capitalise immediately after losing Kolbe to a broken jaw just nine minutes in. At half-time, locked at 12-12 and facing the wind in the second half, the Boks found something. Erasmus reckons luck played a part, and he's not pretending otherwise. The more interesting analytical thread here is his reading of Rennie's project: he sees a mirror of his own 2018 situation, and the implication is that this series is being contested at different points on two teams' development curves. Baltimore now looms as the decider of whether the Boks can close it out — or whether New Zealand level and force a different conversation.