All Blacks great accuses Rassie Erasmus of 'conspiracy'

Former All Blacks wing John Kirwan has suggested that South Africa head coach Rassie Erasmus instructed the provincial sides to “not play like the Springboks” against the All Blacks in order to “lull them into a false sense of security” ahead of the Test series.

The All Blacks head into their first Test against the Springboks this Saturday at Ellis Park off the back of wins over the Stormers, Sharks and Bulls, with all three matches far from resembling Test match rugby.

But Kirwan believes this is all a “conspiracy” by Erasmus to catch Dave Rennie’s side cold in Johannesburg on Saturday.

The Kiwi mooted this theory on his Rugby Rivals podcast when responding to Victor Matfield’s assertion that the All Blacks are “looking good”.

Kirwan claimed that Matfield doesn’t actually believe “the All Blacks have a chance,” before offering his theory that this is all a ruse by Erasmus.

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“I think you are absolutely lying, Victor. I think you’ve got that wry smile on your face and I personally believe that deep down you don’t think the All Blacks have a chance,” Kirwan said.

“I can see it in your face, mate. You’re just being humble and nice, but you do not think we have a chance because you don’t think we’ve been tested at all with Springbok type of rugby.

“I think Rassie has told all the provincial sides to actually play like the All Blacks if you want, but do not play like the Springboks because we want to lull them into a false sense of security. I can just see it in your face, mate. I love that answer, but your body was telling me something else, brother.

Matfield replied: “I spoke to Neil de Bruin, the attack coach, before the game, and he came out and he said, ‘No, they want to play more. They’re not going to kick it.’ I was like, ‘Oh, that might be trouble for you tonight.’ But that was their plan. I thought the Stormers put up a good fight and put them under pressure. Remember these teams are in pre-season, so they’re actually off. They only came back for two weeks just to train for these games, so the fitness levels of the players aren’t there. I thought the Stormers put them under pressure a little bit, but it’s going to be a different game on Saturday. That’s why the smirk is there.”

Kirwan said: “The Bulls coach comes up to you and says ‘Hi Victor, I’m a South African, and guess what? I’m going to try and play the All Blacks at their own game.’ Wow, wouldn’t you sack him straight away? What’s he doing there? Is he on something? It just smells of conspiracy to me. I think Rassie has told the provincial sides to do that, and that’s what they’ve done. There wasn’t even a box kick, was there? There were a couple of random kicks in the middle of the field.”