Erasmus said the players deserve special praise for their courage in defence and execution of the game plan. The home team dominated possession and territory and forced the Boks to make more than 200 tackles during the game.
“The boys showed guts and I’m so glad for them,” said Erasmus.
“We will take this win over the best team in the world and enjoy it, but we will keep our feet firmly on the ground. We will not get ahead of ourselves. We still have a lot of work to do and the All Blacks will be fuming when they come to Pretoria (on 6 October).”
Kolisi said the win was special, given the many in game challenges the team had to face during the match. Both starting centres, Damian de Allende and Lukhanyo Am, left the field with shoulder injuries, while Willie le Roux (fullback) spent 10 minutes in the sin bin after he was yellow carded.
“We kept our focus and we really had belief,” said Kolisi.
“We wanted to look each other in the eye and said we did the best that we could against the best team in the world.
“It’s a special win, a special day and I'm so proud of the guys and just glad we could make South Africa proud again.”