Eddie Jones claims Rassie Erasmus gave Springboks youngsters ‘carte blanche’ and praises ‘athletic beast’
Springboks back Damian Willemse and an inset of Eddie Jones.
Eddie Jones has hailed Rassie Erasmus for giving his young backs ‘carte blanche’ in the comprehensive victory over the All Blacks in Wellington.
The Springboks’ head coach fielded a starting backline boasting just 173 caps, but his decision to entrust inexperience for the fixture paid off as South Africa romped to a 43-10 victory.
The back-to-back world champions played far more expansively in the second Rugby Championship clash with the All Blacks in comparison to the meeting at Eden Park seven days prior.
Jones says that Erasmus smartly released his team early, which gave the youngsters the belief to go play to their strength and put New Zealand to the sword.
The Japan head coach dissected the match between the two fierce rivals, along with former Wallabies head coach Ewan McKenzie, who believes that the backline that started the second Test was the kind of set-up that Erasmus wants to deploy at the 2027 Rugby World Cup in Australia.
Rassie got nervous
The ex-Reds boss also suggested that the Springboks boss wanted to field a similar team throughout the Rugby Championship but got ‘nervous’ after South Africa’s defeat to Australia at Ellis Park.
“I suspect that’s how Rassie wanted to start the series, and they played that way in the first game at Ellis Park,” McKenzie said on the Rugby Unity podcast.
“They played really well for 20 minutes and then got run over by the Wallabies, and then he started to fiddle around with selections, and then he went with the youth formula, and that definitely worked.
“So you had a hungry forward pack that were intent on going forward, led by Jasper Wiese – he was outstanding at number eight and then some really exciting young backs that were keen to get their hands on the ball and make things happen.
“They weren’t without mistake, but they were everywhere. So they had a really good blend. The ball was in front of the forwards, they were hungry and getting stuck in, their set piece was good, the scrum, particularly in the second half and then the lineout functioned well, and then they had the backs to finish things off; whereas the last couple of games, they didn’t have the backs to finish it off.”
One player who really impressed McKenzie was Ethan Hooker, who earned just his third Test cap but first start for the Springboks.
The Sharks star played on the wing in Wellington and produced a standout performance which included a mazing run through the All Blacks, which ultimately led to a try.
“He took a pump with some of the selections, and we saw you the likes of Hooker on the wing; he looked like a flanker,” the former coach said.
“I couldn’t believe the number on his back, and then he showed a turn of speed. He was terrific in the air and retrieved possession in the contest. So some really interesting players there, it was a really good blend for me, and that’s probably the brand of football Rassie wants to play going into the World Cup, and we’ve got a bit of a taste of that.
“He went away from it after the loss in Ellis Park, and now he’s gone back to it, and he got really good pay, a record score; we can’t say much more than that.”
‘Shocked’ ex-Springbok claims Rassie Erasmus ‘controlled the narrative’ in historic All Blacks win
Eddie Jones hails ‘athletic beast’ Damian Willemse
Jones responded to McKenzie’s analysis by hailing Erasmus’ management of the young players and inspiring confidence to go out there and express themselves.
He added that the Bok boss did set parameters for the squad, but gave them free rein once they entered New Zealand’s half of the pitch. He also reserved praise for utility back Damian Willemse, who earned his first start at inside centre but shifted to full-back following Aphelele Fassi’s injury.
“At the start of the week, he went early, and I reckon he said to those young blokes, ‘You got carte blanche to attack, but you don’t attack from our half, you kick everything from our half and then as soon as you get the ball in your half, you can go for your life’ and that’s basically what they did,” said Jones.
“It seemed to really free them up because that Willemse is an athletic beast, but we haven’t seen him actually ever play like that to that extent, where he’s running over the top of people.
“That try he scored close to the line where he ran the winger and centre, he just burst through them like a rugby league front-rower, you don’t see that too often – that was incredible.
“I think they were unleashed, he backed them early in the week, telling them, ‘You are playing, but you’ve got to make sure you kick out of our half’, and they kicked well and won the contest and then one fractured ball in the opposition’s half, and they were able to attack with a fair bit amount of freedom.”
He added: “They used the kicks behind in the wide rucks well. The other thing they probably spoke about is they didn’t want rucks inside the 15 metre line, they’d rather put the ball behind, make New Zealand play out of there, attack that wide breakdown and keep it in their half, so they kick back to their advantage.”
READ MORE: Opinion: Rassie Erasmus’ plan to ‘unleash’ confidence-lacking Damian Willemse pays massive dividends
