Springboks are world leaders in low, legal tackles and stats prove it, Rassie is right to be fuming
Franco Mostert and Ethan Hooker tackle Paolo Garbisi and an inset of Springboks head coach Rassie Erasmus
The Springboks coaches have expressed their frustrations over the red cards issued to Lood de Jager and Franco Mostert, and for good reason.
De Jager was issued with a permanent red card for his dangerous tackle on Thomas Ramos in the clash at the Stade de France earlier this month, with Mostert given his marching orders for a similar hit on Italy’s Paolo Garbisi in Turin.
On both occasions, the officiating team deemed that the actions of the Bok locks were ‘always illegal’, meaning that a yellow card and subsequent referral to the Foul Play Review Officer, TMO Bunker, was not needed.
If that wasn’t the case, then a 20-minute red card would have come into the picture, but ultimately Angus Garnder and James Doleman issued full red cards.
Working hard to go low
Speaking after the respective incidents, Springboks head coach Rassie Erasmus was visibly frustrated.
“We’ve learned to accept decisions,” he said when asked about De Jager’s sending off.
Adding, “I think it was a red card, but I don’t know if it was a permanent red or a 20-minute red. That’s probably debatable.”
After the Mostert red card, he was fuming, emphasising that he cannot understand what more the officials want from his players, adding that he and his coaching team are left baffled.
“Losing two five locks in two games, for not going lower than they can, it’s tough to understand, and I’m not saying anybody’s wrong by that, but we don’t know how to coach guys to even lower,” he said.
Adding, “We are very proud team in the way we do level changes to try and avoid head contacts, and we’ve received just so many red cards.”
Ahead of the clash against Ireland, assistant coach Mzwandile Stick shared the same frustration as Erasmus: “If you look at the actions of Franco Mostert, even with Lood de Jager the previous week, he has done everything by the book; the only mistake was that the contact was on the shoulder, but it ended up on the head. So I don’t understand how it becomes a permanent red card.
“From us as the coaches, we still have to work hard because we are working with these nice, tall guys; they try to do everything by the book, but because rugby is a physical game, sometimes you don’t get it perfect.
“But for them to say those tackles were never legal, it’s disappointing.”
Stats back up Springbok coaches’ claims
Whenever such incidents occur, there are those who are quick to quip that if players don’t want to get carded, the simple solution is not to tackle high.
Herein lies the frustration from the Springbok coaches as for several years, South Africa have been the standard bearers in terms of tackling low and continued to do so.
That standard was set by former defence and head coach Jacques Nienaber and has since continued under Jerry Flannery with the team’s strength and conditioning coaches – formerly Aled Walters and now Andy Edwards – playing pivotal roles too.
Tags such as ‘Springbok headhunters’ aren’t just incorrect but grossly misrepresent a team that really does pride itself on making low and aggressive tackles – and the stats back it up.
During the 2023 Rugby World Cup, only Romania (53.1%) and Samoa (52.4%) averaged more low tackles than South Africa (52.2%), with Argentina posting the same average.
Fellow finalist New Zealand averaged 48% while Scotland, renowned for their choke tackles and tactics to hold up the ball carrier, produced the lowest percentage, 32.4%.
Erasmus’ claim that the Boks are a ‘very proud team in the way they do level changes’ is certainly backed up by the stats, and while it is a ploy to avoid the sanctions that they have received in the last two weeks, it’s about player safety too.
Last year, SA Rugby approved new laws to make the game safer at the school and club level by lowering the maximum legal tackle height to below the sternum.
In the statement, Erasmus said: “Tackling lower is coachable, so this cannot be used as an excuse – you need to coach and practise correct technique. We therefore built it into our conditioning and technical preparation for the tournament. You cannot simply tackle lower without focusing on correct technique.”
He added: “Fitness becomes a critical requirement to continue tackling lower over the course of a match, so appropriate fitness and conditioning is critical.”
The Bok coaches clearly practise what they preach, as none of the Six Nations or Rugby Championship teams have tackled, on average, as low as South Africa have in Test matches this year.
In fact, this November, South Africa is the only one of those teams where more than half of their tackles (51.87%) have been deemed as low. Ireland produced a similar number during their July internationals (50,22%), but this window, their percentage has plummeted to 39,92%.
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Tackle stats for the Six Nations and Rugby Championship teams in 2025
Tackle stats for the Six Nations and Rugby Championship teams in 2025.
Any notion that the Springboks don’t get low into contact on defence is a misrepresentation of a team that has prioritised the safety of their players and their opponents.
In both De Jager and Mostert’s cases, the players were bent at the hip and attempted to make low legal tackles, but the dynamic situations meant that contact ended high. The former certainly made shoulder-to-head contact, while the latter was incredibly unfortunate to be red-carded after seemingly making shoulder-to-chest contact first.
It’s worth noting that Erasmus has used almost 50 players this year, but South Africa still produces the highest average of low tackle completed of the SANZAAR and Six Nations teams.
That not only points to a side that is coached and conditioned to tackle low, but one that is selected to do so, too.
While South Africa have kept the pace and remains the tier one nation that tackles lower most often, Argentina have surprisingly dipped down, boasting an average of just 36.87% in 2025.
Scotland continues to deploy the choke tackle tactics, making more such tackles than any of the 10 teams and therefore don’t tackle low as often as the other nations.
