Rassie Erasmus has sent a letter to the Springbok supporters and the match officials who officiated the encounter against Ireland on Saturday.
In their Rugby World Cup Pool B match on Saturday at the Stade de France in Paris against the top-ranked team in the world, Ireland, the Springboks suffered a discouraging 13-8 loss.
But when they turn their attention to next week’s match against Tonga, which is now a must-win match, they must immediately put everything behind them.
Rassie Erasmus apologized and issued a message to match officials Ben O’Keeffe and his crew on the social media platform X after the team’s defeat against Ireland.
“Congratulations to Ireland and sorry!” Just give us more effort, and we’ll make you proud! It’s also good to take part in a match that’s so fierce and physical without the referee getting in the way too much! Congrats to Ben and your team. It was incredibly nice of you to support us. Thank you! … (maar hartseer).
The Springboks’ battle in Paris was not a life-or-death situation because they had won their earlier matches against Scotland and Romania. However, it does mean that they must defeat Tonga on Sunday of next week to advance to the quarterfinal.
Ireland took a slim 7-3 lead into halftime in a ding-dong struggle that lasted the entire game. Despite both teams scoring a try in the last minutes, the Irish managed to win by five points.
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The Springboks will try to recover soon.
awaiting their upcoming game, “We are going to work hard on the things that we need to improve,” Bok captain Siya Kolisi stated. We didn’t blow the game in every area, but we need to improve overall. The truth is that this is what occurs if you don’t take your points seriously.
Kolisi refused to let the loss bring him down and said, “We’ll lift our heads and get ready for next week’s match against Tonga. There were guys who hadn’t played under this strain before. The sooner we move past this since we’ve been in this situation previously.
Coach Jacques Nienaber concluded by saying that both teams will benefit greatly from the encounter. If you consider the players’ physicality, energy, and mental testing.
“Even though we didn’t get the result, it was good practice in that regard because it was similar to the pressure of a knock-out game.”
The Springboks will return to Toulon in the south of France on Sunday to begin their preparations for their final pool match, against Tonga in Marseille on Sunday, 1 October.
