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Rassie addresses Boks' talk that he regards as 'stupid'
Rassie Erasmus is doing his best to dampen expectations as the Springboks prepare to launch their bid to retain the Rugby World Cup in France and insists it would be “stupid” to consider them favourites heading into the tournament which kicks off in September.
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As the reigning Cup champions prepare for their opening Rugby Championship match against Australia at home on 8 July, Erasmus, SA Rugby’s Director of Rugby, is even talking up the chances of the Wallabies under new coach Eddie Jones despite their poor record in South Africa. He said :” We’re under no illusions (how competitive this World Cup is going to be) You have the Wallabies under Eddie and the All Blacks present. Ireland are ranked No 1 in the world, France are second.
“Even through to Scotland, who are No 5, it would be stupid to argue that we’re carrying the favourite tag. We definitely don’t.
“We’re not even going to argue in that direction because there would be no sense doing that. Yes, the expectations are definitely higher. We feel it on our shoulders. The nice thing about this group is that we’ve been together for a really long time.
“We’re very realistic and don’t get dragged into what other people are saying. We know, realistically, that in 2019 we were not exactly favourites. If anything, we were underdogs.
“We’re world champions and have to try and defend that title. We believe we have as good a chance as anyone to complete that objective. People definitely expect us to go to World Cup and get the job done. We’re certainly going to try.”
The Springbok management are planning a split-squad system again for the Rugby Championship, although head coach Jacques Nienaber is adamant he is not operating an A- or B-team system.
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“It will not be an ‘A’ and a ‘B’ side. It will be similar to what we did in 2019. If you look at the team that played against Australia then, who started that game, I think a lot of people at the time thought that it would be an A and a B side,” he said.
“Beast Mtawarira started against Australia and he started in the World Cup final. Bongi Mbonambi started against Australia and he started in the World Cup final. Lood de Jager and Eben Etzebeth started, Pieter-Steph du Toit started. We’ll probably do the same. It will be a side that we believe will be good enough to beat Australia here at Loftus.”
Comments on RugbyPass
Job done guys. Great win in a game where things can quickly go wrong.
1 Go to commentsAlex Sanderson fantastic coach and person .So pleased he has signed another contract great days ahead for Sale under his leadership.
1 Go to commentsAndy Goode cant kick to 12
162 Go to commentsDoxed himself. Great work Johnny. You are well suited to the Saders
1 Go to comments_Best game players _
1 Go to commentsWho's Jarrad Hohepa?
1 Go to commentsSo let me get this straight. Say you have the dominant scrum. You are 99% sure you can go for a scrum pushover try on the line to win the game. The opposition knows it too. They give away a silly tap kick instead. You are now not allowed to scrum. This is ridiculous! *%@ing the game up as usual! The fact that the attacking teams are not allowed to scrum from a held up over the line is just as ridiculous. Really world rugby? Careful people might start a rebel league called True Rugby or Real Rugby.
76 Go to comments12 subs during a game? How has that been allowed to happen NB? I hate when the game goes in this monopolistic direction closing up shop, it just becomes non sport. Btw have you seen anything of how Liam Coltman was tracking for Lyon? He has just signed to return to Otago though we have a couple of young hookers developing here. He was a popular gentle natured character down here and I’m glad to see him back but maybe he will be a mentor primarily?
11 Go to commentsGreat breakdown and the global politics always confuses me a little. The southern hemisphere seems to be left out a bit but I wouldn’t even know where to start with fixing it. Club challenge could be a step in the right direction
11 Go to commentsSince he coached Free state, from that time onwards, I maintained he was the coach for the Boks. A nice, no nonsense guy with an excellent brain, who gets results.
11 Go to commentswell - they only played against 14 men and had the TMO team on their side - and still should have lost… so actually that makes sense.
33 Go to commentsSouthern hemisphere Rugby is exactly that, boring. Northern Hemisphere Rugby is soooo much more entertaining and better with better players.
2 Go to commentsIf he was to be cited for a dangerous behavior, then it’s natural that he should be. Then NTamack too, yes? And I’ll add a good whataboutism - Yeandle eye-gouging on Richie Arnold: not cited. Eye-gouging. Not high tackle. Eye-gouging. It was on French TV, with French TV directors.
5 Go to commentsReally poorly written rambling piece ..
11 Go to commentsIt was so boring
2 Go to commentspersonally I’d go with : 1. France 2. NZ 3. England 4. Ireland 5. Scotland
33 Go to commentsAndy everything becomes easier with experience therefor counting etc straight after a match becomes easier when you have 100+ caps vs 17 which is the experience you speak from.
162 Go to commentsGetting rid of the Dupont Law is a good thing and ought to have been done months ago! Officially getting rid of the croc roll is a good thing. The law about no scrums from a short arm is well intended in terms of speeding the game up but it’s an overreaction to a clever yet calculated gamble that could have blow up in South Africa’s face if they conceded a penalty from the scrum that was set after Willemse took claimed the mark in the World Cup QF.
76 Go to commentsRassie The GOAT
11 Go to commentsOf their 5 big matches in RWC Scotland and NZ were the easiest. They took a 12-3 lead against NZ and after the red decided it was best to hold the lead and take chances that came. None came and it was tight but they dug a lot deeper in the other two knock out matches. They had trounced NZ in Twickenham in a fixture that NZ must now regret. Psychology was clearly with SA in the final as a result.
33 Go to comments