Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus thanked the South African fans for their passionate support, as well as the coaching staff for the plans they made and the team for their gutsy effort as they both celebrated significant career milestones with a victory against France in Paris on Saturday night.
The Boks, playing the entire second half with only 14 players, had to dig deep and scored three tries in the final 20 minutes to beat their hosts by 32-17 at the Stade de France – their biggest victory over the French in Paris since 1997.
Kolisi played in his 100th Test, making him the ninth Springbok centurion in history, while Erasmus guided the team in his 50th Test as head coach.
The team registered the monumental victory despite losing Lood de Jager to a red card late in the first half, which forced Erasmus to make unplanned changes to the team, resulting in Kolisi being replaced at halftime in his milestone match, and the Bok coach lauded the players for their fighting spirit to outscore the hosts four tries to two.
“It was probably close to midnight at home (when the final whistle sounded), so thank you to the people who stayed up and watched the game – we play for them and for South Africa,” said Erasmus.
“I also want to say thank you to our captain, who was taken off because Andre (Esterhuizen) can play loose forward and centre, which was a tough call. But when I told him, he just took it on the chin and understood.
“Boan (Venter) also came off early in the match because he has to get used to the intensity of these matches, although I thought he went really well.
“I think the guys who started probably softened up the opposition, and then the bench could go and finish it. Even when Manie (Libbok) came on and Sasha (Feinberg-Mngomezulu) went to fullback, I thought everybody had a good impact.
“That comes from the players understanding that it's a 23-man effort, and the coaches made good plans, which made it easier for the players who came on from the bench.”
Asked what he said to the team at halftime after losing De Jager for the rest of the match, Erasmus said: “I can take very little credit for what was said at halftime because all the coaches of the different departments did most of the talking and made plans.
“A lot of people said the players are getting older, but they are wiser. We desperately wanted to win this game. Playing here (in France) is tough, but fortunately, we experienced it in 2022 and 2023, so the experience of the players, and both the team and the assistant coaches made plans.”