Springboks boss Rassie Erasmus begins the mind games ahead of Ireland series with cryptic social media post
Springboks head coach Rassie Erasmus.
There have been a lot of powerful statements coming out of the Springboks camp in the build-up to their series with Ireland but now head coach Rassie Erasmus has officially kicked off the mind games.
The highly anticipated series between the world champions and Six Nations champions is set to begin next weekend at Loftus Versfeld, kicking off an epic two-Test tour between the best teams on the globe.
Fiery build-up
The last time these sides met was in the Rugby World Cup pool stage last year where Ireland ran out winners. It was after the same game where Eben Etzebeth claimed on the Rugby Pod that several of the Irish players said they would see him in the final, which was not the case in the end.
Etzebeth’s words were followed by Damian de Allende talking about how much the team wants to beat Ireland on his Walk and Talk with Jim Hamilton. Cheslin Kolbe shared the same sentiments in an interview of his own.
The only real response from Ireland was Simon Zebo claiming that “Rassie hates the Irish,” in an episode of Kick Offs and Kick Ons. Erasmus has since laughed that off as he knows the former Munsterman from his time with the club.
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It begins
Erasmus has been known to be active on his X (formerly Twitter) account in the build-up to games, whether it is simply only following the accounts of Springboks‘ next opponents or, in years gone by, highlighting officiating mistakes. This time around, however, he has predicted the Ireland line-up without specifically saying he has.
In the post, he expresses his excitement for the game in the caption, but the image is a full Ireland matchday 23 that is likely to be selected.
This is class !! Going to be epic 🇿🇦vs 🇮🇪
Next week this time !! pic.twitter.com/OS4DBcuzsQ— Rassie Erasmus (@RassieRugby) June 29, 2024
Minutes later he shared another image comparing total caps, average age and total weight with the caption, “Small Margins !!”
Small Margins !! pic.twitter.com/ObT8GY3JUn
— Rassie Erasmus (@RassieRugby) June 29, 2024
To many these posts may not look like much but Erasmus very rarely does this by accident and he is likely looking to rattle the cage a bit.
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