Springboks have systems to ‘fall back’ on as Rassie Erasmus believes there’s a ‘certain way’ to win World Cups
Jesse Kriel celebrates scoring a try and an inset of Springboks head coach Rassie Erasmus.
There is a certain style of play that wins Rugby World Cups, and it’s not an up-tempo and attacking game.
That is according to Rassie Erasmus, who says that while the Springboks have improved their attack since Tony Brown’s addition to the backroom staff, they have not abandoned the tactics that won the 2019 and 2023 tournaments.
South Africa won each of their knockout matches in France by a single point – including the final against the All Blacks – and Erasmus predicts that the 2027 World Cup in Australia will be a similar grind in the knockout stages.
He said as much ahead of the Springboks‘ opening Test of Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry series against the All Blacks, with his team fielding accusations of deliberately slowing the game down.
All Blacks’ need for speed
New Zealand head coach Dave Rennie has emphasised his desire for his team to play an up-tempo attacking game in possession and has been urging match officials to limit the amount of dead time in matches.
“You can see on social media, they’re advocating this high-intensity running, multi-phase, and nobody can keep up with us,” Erasmus commented on Monday.
“I mean, they are not hiding it. Everybody’s talking about it. So yeah, I’ve seen that, and when you analyse it, it definitely shows in the stats, and it shows on the scoreboards if you watch the last three games they played.”
It’s been suggested by many pundits that the Springboks’ style of play is in contrast to that of the All Blacks, with South Africa wanting to control the tempo of the game and back their traditional strengths – the set-pieces, physicality and kicking game.
Erasmus has rubbished the accusations that they are trying to slow the game down and pointed to the last two meetings between the Springboks and All Blacks in New Zealand last year as evidence of that.
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Springboks look for balance
He further explained that while South Africa are continuing to build on their attacking game under Brown’s tutelage, they are still investing in another system that suits more arm-wrestling type of matches.
“There are always three truths: New Zealand’s truth, the world’s truth, and then what we believe. Then there’s the truth, the waarheid – the Afrikaans word for truth. Now the waarheid is our last two games against New Zealand in Auckland and Wellington; you can go look at those games – were they slow games?” Erasmus said.
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“New Zealand beat us in the first one in Auckland, protected their record, and then we got a good one in the second one [in Wellington]. We think there’s a certain way to win World Cups, and we think that’s a grind.
“We think when you’re under pressure on your attack, it’s very tough to keep cohesion. If the pressure is very big, you start fumbling a few balls, and then you are stuck.
“We are trying to find a balance between that and when games are really, really clutch and crunch, that you have a system that you can fall back on, which protects the players sometimes from not always having the confidence to do things. But since Tony’s been with us, we feel we were attacking alright; we feel we’re doing not too badly, but we always want to keep the thing that we can fall back on when the pressure is really tough.”
