The Springboks lost their top world ranking when New Zealand won the opening test 33-16 at Ellis Park on Saturday, outscoring their hosts five tries to one as they saw off South Africa’s efforts to muscle them into submission.
The world champions had been favourites before the start of the first test of the Kiwis’ eight-match tour.
"One could see the hurt on everyone’s faces after Saturday’s match, and we know what we have to do to bounce back strongly this week," Erasmus said as he announced the line-up for the second test in Cape Town on Saturday.
"There were a handful of positives and negatives last week, but the main thing that let us down was that we created so many chances, but mistakes at crucial times cost us.
"We are angry with each other. The coaches did and said stupid things. The players did stupid things on the pitch," added Erasmus.
"Me personally, I made wrong calls on some of the tactics we wanted to try and do inside their 22. It didn’t work and that’s on me."
Erasmus went back to naming his side early, but kept the All Blacks guessing by putting flanker Siya Kolisi back in the side if the inspirational captain proves his fitness. If not, Paul de Villiers will stay in the starting line-up.
"Paul played well on Saturday, and there’s no reason why we should keep him out, but Siya is our captain," the coach said.
"Siya has got some strengths, one of them being the attacking breakdown, he’s really good at sorting that out for us, which was the area we struggled with.
"There were lots of times that we played badly, not because they did anything illegal, but we couldn’t get the ball away out of the breakdown when we were in really good attacking positions. Siya’s really good at that," Erasmus added.
Springbok team: 15-Damian Willemse, 14-Kurt-Lee Arendse, 13-Jesse Kriel, 12-Damian de Allende, 11-Ethan Hooker, 10-Handre Pollard, 9-Cobus Reinach, 8-Jasper Wiese, 7-Pieter-Steph du Toit, 6-Siya Kolisi (captain) or Paul de Villiers, 5-Ruan Nortje, 4-Eben Etzebeth, 3-Wilco Louw, 2-Malcolm Marx, 1-Ox Nche.
Replacements: 16-Deon Fourie, 17-Gerhard Steenekamp, 18-Thomas du Toit, 19-Lood de Jager, 20-Andre Esterhuizen, 21-Cameron Hanekom, 22-Morne van den Berg, 23-Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu.
The All Blacks are embarking upon their first full tour of South Africa since 1996! Marketed as the 'Greatest Rivalry' series, the winner will come out not only with the bragging rights but World Rugby's number one ranking. Keep up to date throughout August and September with news, previews and more.
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