Rassie Erasmus’ refreshing approach as Springboks boss makes honest Bledisloe Cup admission after previous controversy
Rassie Erasmus hopes that the Springboks do not repeat an error they made three years ago ahead of their 2025 double-header with Argentina.
During the penultimate round of the 2022 Rugby Championship, the Wallabies were moments away from overcoming the All Blacks in Melbourne.
Australia had earned a penalty and all they needed to do was kick the ball to touch and win the lineout to see out the win.
However, fly-half Bernard Foley, despite being warned by Mathieu Raynal, continued to try and waste time, and was duly penalised by the referee.
It resulted in a New Zealand scrum and the visitors would go on to claim a controversial last-gasp triumph thanks to Jordie Barrett’s score.
Impact on the Boks
While the hosts were left devastated, that ultimately had an impact on the Springboks, who had to beat Argentina by a certain margin on the final weekend to lift the title.
South Africa would ultimately fail in their quest with Erasmus believing that they overplayed in their 38-21 win over Los Pumas.
It is similarly tight this weekend with just two points separating all four teams in the Rugby Championship table going into the fifth round.
Bonus-points and points’ difference are therefore hugely important, but the Boks boss knows that they need to lay the groundwork up front.
“Remember when for Australia to beat New Zealand, they just had to kick the ball out and then they took too long to kick the ball out. If they won that match, we just had to beat Argentina and win the Rugby Championship,” he told reporters.
“But then [because of the All Blacks’ win] we had to score a 42-point margin and in that game we started chasing our tail a little bit, so we won’t make that same mistake.
“It’s for us to win first. We will know what happens in the Australia-New Zealand game but with four points we will still be in the mix, whatever happens in the other game.
“Australia and New Zealand must play one another again, so we’re going to play a Test match, we’re not going to play expansive, running and trying to score more than three [tries]. If it happens, great, they will try and do the same, but we’ve got to play a Test match.”
Erasmus’ refreshing approach
Most players and coaches will issue a media-trained response when asked about potential scenarios and how other games play out, insisting they are ‘only focusing on ourselves’, so it was refreshing to hear Erasmus say something different.
Even during the previous round of action, which saw the Wallabies v Argentina clash finish just an hour prior to the Springboks v All Blacks encounter in Wellington, South Africa’s head coach freely admitted that he was following the score closely.
“Obviously we will have a look at that. Even before the game in Wellington, just before we had our team talk, I was on the phone checking because it does give you extra motivation if you know you’re still in the mix,” he said.
“With that last try Australia scored, they got two league points there, but you tell the players before the game, ‘boys, we’re in the mix, if we win this game the Rugby Championship’s alive’.
“We will definitely look at the score and what the score is there, but that wouldn’t make a difference in our approach and how we’ve trained so far.
“Of course we will watch the score and maybe get a little bit more motivation and know exactly what we have to do in the game.”
READ MORE: Springboks team: Five takeaways as Rassie Erasmus gets ‘consistency’ with ‘formidable partnership’
