Erasmus points to poor decisions and discipline after 'terrible' loss to France

Friday night's defeat was a bitter blow for the Boks, leaving them with a tough task ahead if they are to finish top of the Nations Championship's Southern Hemisphere table, with the All Blacks now holding the edge.

South Africa went into the break in Paris trailing 21-7 after a disappointing opening 40 minutes in which they lacked the control and composure that have become hallmarks of their game. Their task was made harder when a try that would have cut the deficit to seven points was ruled out on the stroke of half-time for a technical infringement.

However, they responded with a spirited fightback in the second half, dominating territory and possession and scoring twice to close the gap to just two points in the closing minutes - though it ultimately wasn't enough as France held on for a famous victory.

According to Erasmus, the damage had been done much earlier - particularly when they lost Lood de Jager to a yellow card early in the first half, and Jasper Wiese to a 20-minute red just after the break.

Erasmus also admitted the Boks made a mistake in calling for too many scrums in a row when they had the French under the pump near their own try line and failed to come away without any points - echoing their defeat against the All Blacks in the opening match of Rugby's Greatest Rivalry when they made the same mistake.

"France played really well and we didn't, so I can't find a lot of excuses. They took their opportunities when they got them and we didn't," said the Bok coach, who has now lost two of his last three matches.

"It's probably a cliche, but I definitely think we had enough opportunities and there were simple tries we could have scored with one last pass, and perhaps one or two wrong decisions, such as not kicking for the corner and rather expecting the referee to give four penalties in a row.

"In front of a crowd like this you might feel you have dominance, but it's just human not to keep on penalising the home team if they've already got a card or two. But in the end, it comes down to the fact that they played well, and we didn't."

Captain Kolisi was in full agreement: "Early in the first half, we created opportunities in the wide channels that we didn't take, and when they created chances, they took them straight away. So, we could have been better in many areas.

"However, the effort and hard work was there from our team, and they fought till the end. But if you create so many opportunities and don't take them against a team like this, you're not going to get the win. We know what we need to fix, and hopefully we will play better next week."

Erasmus said the yellow card to Lood de Jager, for a dangerous tackle, and Jasper Wiese's 20-minute red card for a dangerous clean were costly mistakes.

"I don't think any of it was intentional, but I agree it should have been a card," he said.

"We can't moan about that, but I didn't think anybody flew in to try and hurt somebody. When we got the red card, we were a little under the pump."

The Bok coach added: "We were uncharacteristically a little tentative tonight, and when something like that happens it's probably the coaching staff. When we got the opportunity, we were a little bit hesitant, and I have to find out why that happened."

Commenting on the decision to switch his front rows before the match, Erasmus said: "We waited until the captains run on Thursday to decide and even then, we were not sure if we should, but we decided shortly before the game, and it was mainly with testing that combination with the Rugby World Cup next year in mind."

The Springboks will make the journey from France to Ireland on Saturday for their final clash of the Nations Championship group stages in Dublin.