The day after the victory against the French XV in the quarter-finals of the Rugby World Cup, Rassie Erasmus, the director of rugby for the South African team, justified his choice at a press conference. to turn to more offensive rugby, and not just frontal rugby. “Relying solely on an aspect of the game that is difficult to referee (that of the forwards) opens up the possibility of losing half of your chances on a certain type of action. If we play a more open game, if we start the game from the sidelines or on the counter-attack, decisions are easier for the referee to make,” he explained.
And the South African technician, who passed through the province of Munster in Ireland (2016-2017), continued: “As a team, we don’t want to be this incredible team that everyone loves, but we want to score goals. tests. And not only in circumstances where the referee has to make a difficult decision.” According to him, the defeat conceded against the Blues last November at the Vélodrome led him to change the way the Boks play their rugby.
“To be honest, and I’m serious when I say it, I will never forget this post after the match against France in November 2022. Many found that my publications on Twitter (now called X) were controversial, says he. I remember that I wrote that we had to adapt and make things clearer for the referee, that we could not simply rely on mauls, scrums and contacts which are very difficult to arbitrate. These are very dynamic actions where there are some gray areas.”
Rassie Erasmus also looked back on the victory against the Blues in the quarter-finals this Sunday. “We had to adapt first. We had to find a way to score more tries through a lighter and faster game. This was reflected in our total tries, our three-quarters scored more than our forwards,” he appreciates. While welcoming the progress made by France: “I believe that both teams have, tactically, physically and mentally, tried to push the other to its limits.”
The Springbok boss nevertheless wanted to brush aside the criticism concerning the refereeing of New Zealander Ben O’Keeffe: “I do not want to comment on what France said about the refereeing. We accept the fact that there will be mistakes in both directions, we had to work on this aspect to gain respect and I believe that it is happening. Adding: “Our leitmotif is respect for referees. And it works both ways. He will make mistakes and so will we. The frustration that we may have experienced in the past, the lack of communication due to several factors such as Covid… It’s in the past. Now there is a good protocol in place, it’s easy to communicate with them.”
Rassie Erasmus also praised the performance of the French XV: “It’s a relief to beat such a well-trained team. Their coach is very humble. We had a beer together after the match and I must say that the respect he showed us and the way he spoke to us afterwards was truly imbued with humility and sincerity.
