Springboks: Rassie Erasmus addresses criticism and ‘disrespect’ claims ahead of Ireland clash
The Springboks celebrate after scoring a try against France and their head coach Rassie Erasmus (inset).
Springboks boss Rassie Erasmus has opened up on criticism his side has received despite them being the game’s dominant force at international level in recent years.
Erasmus, who has been coaching South Africa since 2018, is widely regarded as one of the sport’s great thinkers and the Springboks’ attack guru Tony Brown revealed last month how his head coach pushes his assistants to be creative and come up with new ideas.
Under Erasmus‘ guidance, the Boks have won back-to-back Rugby World Cups in Japan (2019) and France (2023), while also clinching a 2-1 series victory over the British & Irish Lions in South Africa in 2021 and they were also crowned Rugby Championship winners in 2024 and 2025.
Boks have been criticised quite often
Despite those outstanding achievements and his innovative approach to coaching, the Boks are not everybody’s cup of tea as their modus operandi and tactics have been criticised on a regular basis.
The Boks are set to face Ireland at the Aviva Stadium on Saturday and ahead of the eagerly anticipated encounter, legendary former Ireland and British & Irish hooker Keith Wood admitted although he likes some of Erasmus’ innovations, others are “bullsh*t”.
On Thursday, while making his team announcement for the Boks’ clash against the men from the Emerald Isle, Erasmus was asked whether he felt there is a disrespect around what his side have achieved in recent years and replied: “I’ll be honest with you… I think I’m talking about me personally.
“The only thing that sometimes gets to me is it’s not (that) we don’t want people from outside to start supporting us and say how well we’re doing. No, definitely not.
“We don’t care if people don’t rate us in a way. But when people start questioning how we play the game, the spirit of the game, why we do things.
“No, we don’t analyse England and Ireland and comment on how they pick their teams and how their structures are and why their structures are like that.
‘Our South African mindset is just like that’
“And are they kicking too much? No, you won’t hear our commentators when talking about that, they don’t delve into the opposition. And our South African mindset is just like that.
“This is let us do our thing. And you don’t have to respect what we’re doing. But look at the scoreboard and you can decide if you like us or not. But yeah, I guess, no, we don’t feel disrespected by anybody.
“And I feel that there’s a good healthy competition between us and the Irish especially. But you know, don’t always overanalyse what we do in our camp.
“This is sort of our team. And if we get it wrong, and you beat us on the day, hey man give us shots. We understand it.”
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