Sir Steve Hansen: What impresses me most about the Springboks and it’s the biggest thing Rassie Erasmus has done
Springboks players tackle All Blacks forward Tupou Vaa'i and an inset of Sir Steve Hansen.
Sir Steve Hansen has praised Rassie Erasmus for creating togetherness within the Springboks squad, which is a bigger strength than the team’s set-pieces and power game.
South Africa’s maul and scrum was pivital in their Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry Test III victory in Soweto over the weekend and whilst legendary All Blacks boss singled out the set-pieces as major contributor to the Boks success, it is not what impresses him most.
No, it’s the way the players play for a greater cause, according to the 2015 World Cup-winning coach, who sees that attitude particularly in defence when the team is scrambling.
Springboks’ desire
He said as much on the Rugby Unity podcast when he was asked about the Springboks‘ strengths.
“Well, there are the obvious things like they’re big men, powerful, and they are very skilled, a lot more skilled than people give them credit for, I think,” Hansen replied.
“They’ve got some real good ball carriers; they’ve got guys right across the park who are strong over the ball and their goal-kicking has been exceptional in this in this series – Cheslin Kolbe has been unbelievably good.
“But probably the thing that impresses me the most about them is not the it’s not a rugby thing. It’s a team thing. Just how connected they are as a group and their sense of belonging to their country.”
He continued: “We talk about their scrambled defence; it’s not the first time we’ve seen how good it is. Their scrambled defence comes from desperately wanting to be in a place to help the team, and I think that comes from a sense of connection with each other, but also to the country. You hear them talking about doing things for more than just themselves, and that makes them even tougher to beat when you add in all the other ingredients they’ve got.”
All Blacks aren’t far away
Hansen adds that this desire to do their best for the team and country is a bigger achievement by head coach Erasmus than the depth that he has built.
He says that when the All Blacks have been at their best, they have also got the buy-in from the public and play with a similar desire. Despite the Springboks having the added psychological edge, New Zealand have managed to trouble South Africa during the Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry Series, winning the first Test match and losing the next two by small margins – this is a promising sign for Hansen.
“It’s well documented and rightly so that the Boks have got a wonderful bench and got a lot of depth, but there’s nothing in this Test series,” the ex-All Blacks head coach said.
“It’s small margins, and the thing that gives me a lot of excitement and hope for the All Blacks is this group has only been together for about six weeks. The South African team has been together now for quite some time. Rassie gets a lot of pats on the back for some of his innovative stuff on the rugby field, but the biggest one he should get is for how he has connected the team to South Africa, and that takes time.
“When the All Blacks were really humming, I always felt like we were the nation’s team. We weren’t the All Blacks; we were actually a team of five million because everybody was in behind the team, and everyone was for the team, and the team was for the nation; it wasn’t just for themselves.
“You can’t do that just with a flick of a switch and say, ‘I want us to be the nation’s team’; no you got to earn the respect of the people who are your fans, and you earn that by what you do on the park, obviously, but you also earn it by the stuff you do off it and how you conduct yourself.
“Rugby teams, doesn’t matter what country they are, they’re young men, so they’re not going to do everything 100% right, but there is a way to conduct yourself, and this All Black team is starting to grow into that area, too. So, I think New Zealanders will be pretty proud of them at the moment. Yeah, they’ll be disappointed we didn’t win, but we know we’re not far away.”
