Erasmus: 'I'd rather be in our position than Ireland's'

Springboks Director of Rugby Rassie Erasmus has claimed that he would rather be in South Africa’s position heading into the final round despite Ireland being the only undefeated side in Pool B.

Andy Farrell’s side sit three from three but a final round clash with Scotland awaits. The Scots have everything to play for in order to qualify for the quarter-finals, making Ireland’s position a tough one to be in according to Erasmus.

“With full humbleness, and there is no arrogance saying this, but I’d rather sit here than be Ireland knowing that we’ve been number one in the world all the time and Scotland basically just have to beat them by eight points and they are out of the tournament,” Erasmus explained.

“The score could be 22-12 or 22-13 and Ireland are out of the competition if they don’t get a bonus point. Of the three teams we are probably the most comfortable sitting here knowing we have got a two week rest.

“Look, maybe we have got six months rest if the cards don’t fall our way.

“We have got two weeks off where we can analyse all three teams that we can possibly play.

“I always thought the Ireland-Scotland game was going to be nervy, just like the France-Italy game will be nervy. I know everybody writes off Italy and though Italy are not used to playing against southern hemisphere teams they are used to playing against northern hemisphere teams.

“There are going to be some interesting permutations still in the rest of this World Cup.”

There is still a situation that would see South Africa fail to qualify, with all three teams still at risk of bowing out at the pool stage.

But as Erasmus explained, that risk for South Africa is quite low requiring a historic winning margin by Scotland along with Ireland also scoring four tries at the same time.

“Basically, as I understand it, if Scotland beat Ireland by more than eight points and Ireland don’t get a bonus point then Ireland is out. We would be first, Scotland second and Ireland out. If Scotland beat Ireland 8-0, Ireland are out,” he said.

“That’s how I see it. I was thinking about that a lot last night.

“The other permutation, which is the interesting one, is when all three of us are on 15 points. Then the team with the best net-o points (points difference) first of all goes through.

“If Scotland’s net-o points is the best, then Scotland will go through and we will fall out as Ireland beat us. First it goes to net-o points, then for the second team it is who beat who.

“For that to happen Scotland must score four tries and beat Ireland by more than 20 points and Ireland must get one bonus point somehow. There are three or four very interesting permutations. But if I was Scotland I’d just want to beat them by eight points and not even score a try.

“If I was Ireland I’d definitely make sure they beat them. If Ireland finish first on net-o points then we go through as we beat Scotland.”