Lucky was the best description Springbok coach Johan "Rassie" Erasmus had for yesterday's 16-all draw against the All Blacks at the Westpac Stadium in Wellington.
The Springboks took an early 6-0 lead, then conceded a 37th minute Jack Goodhue try to trail 7-6 at halftime.
There were penalties from Beauden Barrett, Richie Mo'unga and Handre Pollard that left the score tantalisingly poised at 16-9 but Herschel Jantjies's last-minute try retrieved the tie in an exciting Test where each side dominated a half without reward.
Under a lot more pressure
"We were lucky to escape, but in the first 40 minutes of the game we played some really good, tactical rugby. I was frustrated in a sense that we dominated a lot of things except lineouts, but we were good in all the other facets.
"I thought they were under caution from the referee for repeated infringements in the 22, we went for the penalty that we missed and from there, they scored," Erasmus said.
"That swung the momentum and they used it well in the second half. We struggled to catch up with the momentum of the game until the last minute. I thought they had us flustered as well. I thought both teams had different line speed on defence.
"If you analyse New Zealand's defensive line speed, it's different to what they had last year. They come much harder off the line and they put us under a lot more pressure, which wasn't the case in both games last year."
Having not lost to New Zealand away in consecutive years, the Boks have to believe they're generating enough momentum to state a massive case when the sides meet in Yokohama, Japan, in the World Cup on September 21.
Erasmus knows New Zealand will be a different kettle of fish but having examined them thoroughly in the past four encounters, there's reason to believe.
We'll take a bit of momentum
"When the World Cup comes this game will be irrelevant, but while saying that, we didn't play them in the pool stages in 2011.
"We'll take a bit of momentum from this game but the All Blacks have got Australia next and we've got Argentina next. There's guys they're going to get back and so will we," Erasmus said.
"Momentum and belief will be ceded here, but we certainly take a lot of positives from this game because they're the No 1 team and they're the benchmark."
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