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'Entirely different to what the referees asked for': All Blacks assistant on South African TV director's influence
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'Always three truths': Rassie Erasmus and Jaco Peyper respond to accusations of slowing the game
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Springboks head coach Rassie Erasmus and technical consultant Jaco Peyper have responded to the narrative that the Springboks want to play a ‘slow game’ against the All Blacks.
Peyper revealed that “not once” have the Springboks got feedback that they slow the game down in 2026 following the new protocols for feedback.
The former referee who now consults to the Springboks confirmed the law that the Springboks play to, which is that they have 30 seconds from the time the mark is given to form the set piece.
“There was a Shape of the Game meeting at the beginning of the year, where all the big issues, big ticket issues in the world is being discussed,” Peyper said.
“We call it the key focus areas for referees, and that’s basically the contract between refereeing and coaching. Coaching players to play this way, we’ll try and referee this way, and then there’s alignment on Monday post-match.
“Over time, the five games I’ve played, we’ve not had one feedback that we slow down the game.
“We’ve certainly not got negative feedback around it, and what we expect is to play in terms of those agreements with the play between referees and coaches.
“And yes, the law is very clear: 30 seconds from the moment the referee puts his foot down to make a mark, whether it’s scrum or lineout, not from the whistle, from when the foot’s put down, there’s 30 seconds to form, not to get the ball in.
“We have to at the end of that, and we respect that, and we train to that.”
Erasmus added that in that 30 seconds timeframe the attacking side can do what they like.
“What you do up until that lineout, you can pray if you want to,” Erasmus said.
“You can down on your knees. If you want to huddle, you can huddle. There’s nothing in the law that say you can’t huddle, you know.
“We’ve got 11 languages which we have to make sure that everybody understands the lineout call. So you can huddle.
“Then when the referee gives the mark, then within 30 seconds you must form the lineout. So there’s no law that say you can’t huddle.”
Peyper believed that the narrative about slowing the game down comes whenever teams play at altitude.
From his experience, the side under the most pressure is the one that wants a slower game and that goes back to his time as a referee officiating Super Rugby games.
“I’ve referee’d many Super Rugby games here where teams that travel, you know, slow the game down,” he said.
“It’s the same. The Lions didn’t want that. The Bulls didn’t want that. But you can also slow the game down by continuously infringing at the breakdown or at the maul and break the game tempo there.
“Good thing is there’s proper strong referees on these matches and there’s clear. We are very clear on the guidelines, so it’s up to the teams who’s under pressure. They will probably try and slow the game down.”
On whether this series is about contrasting styles, the high tempo All Blacks against the slower paced Springboks, Erasmus was philosophical and said there is a certain way that South Africa wants to play in high pressure situations.
“I think there’s always three truths: New Zealand’s truth, the world’s truth, and then and what we believe, and then there’s the truth, the ‘waarheid’,” he said.
“Now the truth, the ‘waarheid’ is Afrikaans’ word for truth. Now the waarheid is our last two games against New Zealand in Auckland and in Wellington. People can go and look at those games. You know, were those slow games?
“New Zealand beat us in the first one against Auckland, protected their record there, and then we got we got a good one in the second one.
“We think there’s a certain way how you win World Cups, and we think that’s a grind.
“We think when you’re under pressure on your attack, it’s very tough to to keep cohesion if the pressure is very big and you start fumbling a few balls and then you must stick to your guns.
“We try to find a balance between that, and when games are really, really clutch and crunch, that you have a system that you can fall back onto, which protects the players sometimes from not always having the confidence to do things.”
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