Rassie Erasmus addresses moment of fury with telling image online

South Africa head coach Rassie Erasmus unsurprisingly cut a far from calm figure in the coach’s box during the All Blacks‘ victory over his side at Eden Park on Saturday in the Rugby Championship.

In what was a fiercely contested Test match, it would be hard for any coach to remain composed, particularly in the second half.

However, there was one moment in particular where the World Cup-winning coach blew up, which came in the 64th minute as the Springboks had reduced the hosts’ lead to seven points. Immediately from the kick-off, a mix-up between Kwagga Smith and Lood de Jager resulted in a penalty for crossing.

From the ensuing penalty, the All Blacks kicked to the corner, scoring the decisive match-winning try through Quinn Tupaea a few minutes later, with Smith also being yellow-carded after the All Blacks’ first driving maul. Before Scott Robertson’s side had even kicked to the corner, Erasmus had shown his frustration, smashing his hands on the table and screaming expletives, as he was probably all too aware that that was a pivotal moment in the match.

@invalidusernamedontcare #allblacks #springboks #allblacksrugby #springboksrugby ? original sound – PeakNights

Following the match, Erasmus took to social media to share an image of graph depicting his heart-rate throughout the match, which peaked at 132 beats per minute at one particular moment.

While it is not clear at what moment this was in particular, Erasmus’ accompanying statement suggests it came at the mix-up between his players, and he can hardly be blamed.

“Does not help to pretend to be calm in the coaches’ box!! Your heart does not lie,” he wrote on X.

While he did pinpoint individual errors in the defeat in Auckland, he took responsibility for the result.

“We made two individual errors and they scored tries, and the other times they had to grind, so it’s frustrating,” he said.

“It’s not always the same players making the mistakes, and some of them were stupid errors. But as coaches, we pick the players, and as management, we have to sometimes put up our hands and say we got it wrong.”

Does not help to pretend to be calm in the coaches Box!! Your heart does not lie 🙉 pic.twitter.com/xl1xWI2UJb

— Johan Erasmus (@RassieRugby) September 7, 2025