Cape Town - Former Springbok centre Brendan Venter says that the national side performed worse in 2018 than it did in 2017 in terms of results and transformation.
READ: Allister Coetzee v Rassie Erasmus - What the numbers say
Venter, who served as a defensive consultant under Bok coach Allister Coetzee last year, wrote in a column for the Stuff website that the Boks in 2018 had lost more games than they did last year while they also failed to reach the transformation targets that Coetzee did in 2017.
"The Boks under (Rassie) Erasmus scored 37 tries and conceded 38, while Coetzee's side scored 39 tries and conceded 32. Erasmus guaranteed a 45 per cent transformation rate when he set off but only achieved 38 per cent, which is worse than Coetzee who posted 40 per cent," Venter wrote.
"From a purely numbers point of view, it's undeniable that South Africa failed to make progress under Erasmus this season. As a matter of fact, they were worse off this year.
"However, because they beat the All Blacks away from home, the cracks were painted over. Statistically speaking, Erasmus performed substantially worse in his first season than Coetzee did in his second season."
Venter encouraged SA Rugby, however, to keep faith in Erasmus and he expected them to keep improving under his leadership.