Erasmus doubles down as Springboks look to win series

If there was any hope that the Springboks might take their foot off the pedal after beating Ireland last weekend, those notions were quickly dismissed this afternoon.

In naming an identical matchday squad for Saturday's second Test in Durban, Rassie Erasmus has settled on what appears to be his best available starting side.

The 990 caps in the starting XV alone makes it the most experienced South African side ever picked for an international, beating the 987 that began last year's World Cup final against New Zealand.

Last week, South Africa beat Ireland for the first time since 2016, ending a run of three straight defeats, and Erasmus says they aren't satisfied just yet.

"Without a doubt, we know that every single time we go up against them it's going to be a very tight match," he said, at a press conference in uMhlanga, just north of Durban.

"They clearly had our number [previously]. This weekend again, in the last minute if they kept the ball through phases, it would have been a draw.

"Certainly, they created a lot and they could have scored one, two, or three tries more. We both scored three tries and we had a few more opportunities that wouldn't have just been opportunist, it was some well-structured play that didn't end up in tries.

"If we do manage to make it 2-0, it wouldn't be just satisfaction for me, it would be nice for South Africa, for the team and for our morale.

"They had our number in the last four Test matches, they're 3-1 up. It would be nice, but not for me especially, for South Africa."

This day last week, Erasmus was in a mischievous mood as he cracked jokes and worked the room at their Pretoria base, working through his repetoire of mind games before the first Test at Loftus Versfeld.

This week, his tone was