Sunday 26 August 2018 00:22, UK
South Africa coach Rassie Erasmus said their 32-19 loss to Argentina has really set the Springboks back and they have to win at all costs against Australia.
The Boks were totally rattled in Mendoza as they fell to a humbling loss with the Pumas fronting up to them physically and cutting their defence to shreds.
"This was a terrible performance - it was unacceptable and we cannot perform like that in a Springbok jersey," said Erasmus after the game.
"It is not just the players' fault, I am the coach and I must make sure we don't perform like that. We are all disappointed - not just with the defensive effort but in the first 15, 20 minutes we had so many opportunities to score tries.
"We did not capitalise on it and we look like a team playing club rugby. I must point the finger at myself - when you play like this then the coach must be doing something badly wrong during the week."
It does not get easier for South Africa as they head to Australia to take on the Wallabies in Brisbane on September 8 before moving on to New Zealand to face the All Blacks in Wellington a week later.
Erasmus admitted that he had a clear strategy for Australia but will not be able to implement it after the loss to Argentina.
"We have to turn it around - we had certain plans we wanted to try against Australia but that is out the window now. We have to get back to winning ways and it is win at all costs now. This loss puts us back quite a bit. We wanted to win this game and then give a few guys a chance against Australia.
"We can't do that now, we lost - so now we have to beat Australia."
