Sir Steve Hansen: Rassie Erasmus’ Springboks are misleading everyone about how they want to play
Springboks winger Kurt-Lee Arendse (Credit: Guido Comisso, Nations Championship) and an inset of ex-All Blacks coach Sir Steve Hansen.
Former All Blacks head coach Sir Steve Hansen does not believe that the Springboks want to play a fast, attacking brand of rugby.
There has been a significant shift in the way Rassie Erasmus’ men play since the 2023 Rugby World Cup, with Tony Brown running the team’s attack. Last year, South Africa equalled their record for the most tries scored in a calendar year and attacked with much more endeavour in general.
Hansen, who faced South Africa multiple times during his coaching career with New Zealand, believes that the Boks still bank on their traditional strengths and that while there are suggestions that they want to speed up the game, he isn’t buying it.
Steve Hansen: Springboks don’t want to speed up the game
He insists that they are still investing in their kicking game and their physicality. Hansen says that the Springboks are rather predictable, but that doesn’t make it any easier to beat ‘the best team in the world’.
“You know that they’re going to kick the ball. So your aerial game has to be good, and you have to put pressure on the source, which is the kicker, for a start,” the World Cup-winning coach said on the Rugby Unity podcast, reviewing South Africa’s victory over England.
“The other side is, they do what they do really, really well, and it’s not flashy, but it’s done with intent, and it’s done with purpose, and it’s done with a high amount of skill for whatever that particular thing is they’re doing.”
He continued, revealing how to go about beating Erasmus’ charges: “So the one thing about the South Africans is they love physicality. So how do you take that physicality away from them when you’ve got the ball? That’s the challenge for teams. England came out and started poorly, and they fed South Africa what they wanted.
“To beat South Africa, you have to take away what they want. Take away the ability to be physical. So, when you ball carry, use your footwork into contact and don’t just try and T-bone them because they just love it.
“I always found that if we could use great footwork and have them feeling like they can’t get a decent tackle on here, they start to get frustrated. You’re going to have to play at pace against them because they’ve got depth.
“Their bench is strong, but challenge them to have to play fast. They talk about wanting to play fast, but they don’t really want to play fast. I don’t think.”
You go into the exam with all the questions and knowing the answers
Ex-Wallabies and Queensland Reds boss Ewen McKenzie agreed with Hansen and believes that France have the tools to put the Boks under real pressure.
“I agree, spot on. It’s a game for quick taps, you want to retain possession,” he said.
“So, you can keep the pace of the game up without risking possession. If you have the ball, then they’re left with their rushing defence, so a team like France would theoretically put pressure on them because they don’t mind a rushing defence and they’ll pass through that. You have to play at them with a bit of skill.
“South Africa give you the shape; you know what’s coming. You know who’s going to get the ball, but it’s a question of whether you can stop Pieter-Steph du Toit. He is going to get a couple of metres.
“So you go into the exam with all the questions. You know the answers. It’s a question of whether you can put something else out there, and I think retaining possession is part of it. You’ve got to play in a way that frustrates them, and it’s like playing Fiji in some respects. If you can frustrate them, retain possession, the discipline works in your favour.”
To beat the Springboks, you need to frustrate them
Frustrating the Springboks is crucial to beating them, according to Hansen, a coach who achieved that feat several times during his tenure in charge of the All Blacks.
“It doesn’t matter who you are. If you get frustrated, your discipline goes out the door,” he added.
“It doesn’t matter what team you are, and different things frustrate different teams. But when you’re a team who’s used to winning, used to getting what you want all the time, which South Africa are, then you’ve got to take what they want away from them. You can’t allow them to have it all the time.
“So their kick chase game, they don’t always look to catch the ball with their kick chase. So you’ve got to change your mindset about how we’re going to catch them. Rather than having your back guy catch it, the guy that’s running back with the air chaser, get him to go up and catch it, and then they can’t jump through that airspace and take away your eyesight for the guy who is your normal catcher, your last man.
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“Little things like that. You’re just going to have to play around with your catching game and who’s catching it and have a backstop.”
Commenting on England, Hansen says that Steve Borthwick’s simply couldn’t start the game as poorly as they did against the Springboks.
“You can’t start slow – it doesn’t matter who you are,” he said.
“If you start slow and you give someone a 17-point head start, it’s a hell of an effort to come back. Against the best team in the world, you just can’t give them that head start. So, they’ve got to sort that out.”
