Erasmus defends risky Springboks shakeup after a tense win over Scotland

PRETORIA, South Africa (AP) — Coach Rassie Erasmus believes the South African public would have understood what he's trying to do if the Springboks had lost to Scotland at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday.

South Africa didn't lose, but it was a nail-biter. It took until the 77th minute for the Boks to clinch the win by 42-28. They won a 10th straight test and upheld their undefeated record at home against Scotland.

Erasmus made 10 changes to the team which hammered England 45-21 in the first round of the Nations Championship. He admitted it was a risk but said he's trying to spread the workload, give guys more experience, and was forced by a lengthy injury list.

The wounded include Ox Nche, Malcolm Marx, Frans Malherbe, Eben Etzebeth, Franco Mostert, RG Snyman, Lood de Jager, captain Siya Kolisi, Kwagga Smith, Deon Fourie, Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu and Andre Esterhuizen.

Erasmus installed a new front row, new halves and a new back three, and was forced into a late change when World Cup winner Canan Moodie had to be replaced by eight-cap winger Ethan Hooker. That meant eight of the XV and 13 of the 23 had less than 10 caps each.

“I don't think the crowd was happy at the end but I think South Africa understands what we tried to do in this game,” Erasmus said.

"In the past I felt if we made four changes people would ask, ‘What are you doing?’ But I feel the interaction between us and the supporters — through the media — gives us a togetherness and people know what we are trying to do. That's something that’s changed over the years.

"It's the crowd believing in the team and the team believing in South Africa, because they could easily have gone against us with those easy tries we gave away.

“If we lose the knives will be out. But for me the most important thing is learning about the players. If we had lost this game I think there would be some of the crowd who would understand what we tried to do, but luckily we won.”

Erasmus said the lessons from the game outweighed the milestones.

“Sometimes we must put our personal goals to one side of how many games you've won in a row or even putting winning this championship on the line so that you can know who can do what,” he said.

"If you don't make those calls you would never know. When do you do it? Are you always going to do it when you play a team that's not of this caliber — because I think they are a great team. That's how you find out.

“It's tense, there's pressure, there's a crowd who've bought tickets because they want to watch this game. They don't even know the players so well because they're not even settled test match players.”

Ultimately, South Africa remained on top of the Southern Hemisphere conference on points difference from New Zealand.

“It's much nicer when you win and you learn than when you lose and you learn," Erasmus said.

“For those guys to feel the crowd going quiet when it’s not going so well. That's the only way we can ever learn. We learned a lot about some players — not that they are not good enough — but that there’s a lot of work to be done.”

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South Africa's Quan Horn, center, is tackled by Scotland's Kyle Rowe during the Nations Championship Test rugby match between South Africa and Scotland, in Pretoria, Saturday, July 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)

PORT-OF-SPAIN, Trinidad (AP) — Trinidad and Tobago has signed agreements paving the way for U.S. companies to begin groundwork for installing large data centers in the Caribbean nation, sparking concerns about potential energy consumption and environmental impacts.

The memorandums of understanding with the Florida-headquartered Hummingbird AI Holdings and New York-based Ernst and Young LLP were signed on Friday, according to a statement from the office of Trinidad and Tobago’s Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar. These are the first such agreements with a Caribbean country.

The deal with Ernst and Young LLP will set out the framework for collaboration on developing large-scale data centers, with the company planning to “partner with third parties in the development" of a 300 megawatt data center, the statement said.

The agreement with Hummingbird AI Holdings sets up the framework for “preliminary cooperation, due diligence and coordination” for a proposed 150 MW AI infrastructure and data center facility.

The deals raised online questions about the environmental impact of the centers.

Renowned social activist Dr. Wayne Kublalsingh told The Associated Press he was concerned about the energy consumption by the planned data centers.

The government is “trying to present something which looks like development, but which is not development,” he said.

Trinidad and Tobago has long grappled with chronic water shortages and intermittent supply, raising concerns that large, water-intensive data centers could place additional strain on an already overstretched system.

Data centers could account for nearly 3% of the world’s projected electricity use by 2030, with 935 trillion watt-hours, according to a recent United Nations University report. The environmental footprint of data centers already rivals some of the world’s largest countries, according to the report.

Trinidad and Tobago's government signed a third agreement with another American company, Pinnacle Steel and Vanadium Corporation, which recently acquired a local iron and steel plant. Government officials said the agreement allows for further talks on recommissioning operating the plant.

The government said the three initiatives, combined, are expected to generate over 5,000 jobs.

The prime minister of the twin-island republic has been a strong supporter of the Trump administration. Her office said that the U.S. government played a role in facilitating the parties involved in the agreements.

“They’re going to invest here to work on data centers, two for data centers, and one to help us rejuvenate and rebuild our steel industry,” Persad-Bissessar said Friday night, speaking at a U.S. independence anniversary celebration ceremony hosted by the U.S. Embassy in Trinidad and Tobago.

Follow AP’s coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean at https://apnews.com/hub/latin-america

FILE - Trinidad and Tobago Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar stands at the State Department in Washington, Sept. 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein, File)