Springboks vs All Blacks: Rassie Erasmus's Controversial Tactics and the All Blacks' Winning Game Plan

OPINION: Rassie Erasmus has been on his best behaviour this week, cozying up to reporters and sending praise the All Blacks way in order not to stir up a response.

Not that the All Blacks would care too much, but it’s what Rassie cares about because that’s the Springboks way. He thinks it matters, so it does, in the mind of the paranoid.

The King of posting up bulletin board material to try to find an edge, mind games, and pretending not to care but deeply caring.

Now that the niceties are over, the press conferences with next-to-no headlines as a result of the public grandstanding, it’s time to get down to business.

The Springboks fanbase, not necessarily the team themselves, are riding high after two wins over the Wallabies. The expectations are sky high.

They believe this team deserves a spot on the Pantheon among the greats, that we’ve enough evidence now that the world champions of 15 on 14 rugby are going to produce a worthy encore. The script has been written, it’s just time to watch the play unfold.

Not only that, they believe we’ve got ample evidence that Super Rugby is responsible for the Wallabies and All Blacks demise and how Europe has made the Springboks that much better.

Former players are now struggling to think of teams throughout the history of the game who would beat the 2024 Springboks. They’ve transcended the current-day international teams apparently.

History? Forget history, I’ll give you one in the now and present; Ireland, who beat them last month. It’s been three wins in a row since. Let’s please stop the pandering and a** kissing until they deserve it.

Erasmus and his coaching staff have been able to play cute with their selections against the Wallabies. The ‘A’ team, the ‘B’ team, let’s hope for their sake this one doesn’t end up the ‘L’ team.

We’ve got possibly the world’s best blindside playing in the second row, much like Argentina’s fidgeting in the second Test when they put openside Marcos Kremer at lock. That unbalanced pack tipped over at Eden Park and was put to pasture by half-time.

There is Eben Etzebeth sitting on the pine ready to be the saviour if it all goes pear-shaped. However, that emergency glass option doesn’t always work.

Hooker Joseph Dweba had to be pulled just 27 minutes into the last Test at Ellis Park, with Malcolm Marx sent in to fix the mess unfolding. But that wasn’t enough.

The early damage had been done as the All Blacks got out to a 15-0 lead. According to scrumhalf Faf de Klerk, the Springboks “dominated the whole game but still lost”.

If going behind 0-15 is dominant, then yes, we can call it that. A more accurate description would be that South Africa fought back, but the damage in the first 15 and last 15 ultimately cost them.

The All Blacks came with a bold game plan that day that hopefully Scott Robertson and his coaching staff remember.

The All Blacks' Winning Game Plan

The exit plan was to give it to Will Jordan on the right wing coming out of their own 22 and the All Blacks ran riot. Rieko Ioane had his best day as a No.13 in the black jersey, running rings around Lukhanyo Am.

It was the same game plan as a week before in Mbombela, but a change of No.10 in Richie Mo’unga saw the plan come together well and the ball finally made it to the edge where the space was.

After conceding line breaks the Springboks had to backtrack 60-70 metres and they were gassed.

The All Blacks were able to put together the phases and score on the tired defence at the other end. There were some incredible passages of passing and offloading, one leading to David Havili’s try a memorable score.

It was a watershed moment for Ian Foster with new assistants Joe Schmidt, now with the Wallabies, and forwards coach Jason Ryan.

Running Out the Springboks

In the modern game, it is difficult to tire out your opposition. The set-piece stoppages, the eight-player reserves, the players are fit enough to handling bursts of play in a normal game.

But that day proved one exception to the rule, and that is when your big men have to run back 60 metres just to get onside, your defensive line is cooked from that point on.

So for the All Blacks it is simple. Don’t exit kick every time from inside your 22. Run it out. And then run it out again and again. Run until those big boys are puffing and need to get pulled like Joesph Dweba because there’s six of them waiting on the bench.

Give the Springboks their medicine.

Rassie Erasmus: The Phenomenal Coach

Schalk Brits has praised Rassie Erasmus as a ‘phenomenal’ coach and revealed what sets him apart from previous Springboks coaches.

The ex-hooker worked under Erasmus during his time at the Stormers, while the Bok boss convinced him to delay his retirement to be part of his team squad for the 2019 Rugby World Cup.

Brits played 15 Tests for the Springboks between 2008 and 2019, earning caps under Peter de Villiers, Heyneke Meyer and Erasmus.

Five of his caps came under Erasmus, including two matches at the 2019 World Cup in Japan, with Brits also captaining his country on three occasions.

The former Saracens star believes that Erasmus’ frank and transparent conversations that he has with players means that the squad become incredibly loyal to him.

“Loyalty goes both ways so if you sign the contract you need to perform and you need to put the effort in and at the same time the coach needs to give you feedback,” Brits said on The Good, the Bad and the Rugby South Africa podcast.

“So a lot of the time in the earlier days there wasn’t a lot of feedback coming from coach to player and from my perspective, they wanted to sugarcoat you to keep you in the system and keep you from not going somewhere else.

“For me, it is better to rather be honest and say to the player ‘Look I don’t want the type of player you are or you’re not pulling your weight’, there needs to be that transparency and honesty to either tell the player where he needs to improve or why you’re not picking him then at least the player knows what he needs to work on.

“When you’re in la la land and you don’t know why you’re not being picked or it’s been said that you going to be on rotation and another player is going to be given a chance and you wait two or three games and the rotation never comes back you’re like ‘Oh my goodness you said that [and didn’t deliver]’, and that’s where trust is very important between coach and player.”

This is where Brits believes Erasmus is different to the other Bok coaches he worked with as there were no private conversations between players and coaches which meant everyone was on the same page.

“What I’ve experienced and maybe it’s changed but within the Springboks set-up it was very transparent,” he added.

“It’s not a one-on-one session, I’ve been with Springboks coaches where when we talk as hookers and we all get different messages and you go ‘What the hell is this’ because the players talk too. With our conversations with Rassie, all three hookers were there and no disguise in the message then you know exactly where the rotation would be.

“What is interesting as a player is if the coach tells you that you’re playing in three weeks’ time and he keeps to his word, even if if they’ve lost or won then you build loyalty towards you as coach, and that is one thing that Rassie has been phenomenal with.

“Maybe it’s different now but I mean he did an amazing rotation and beat Aus twice and he changed the whole squad.”

Current Springboks forward Elrigh Louw joined Brits on the podcast and confirmed that Erasmus has not changed tack in the years that followed the hooker’s retirement.

Erasmus made 10 changes to his starting XV following the victory over Australia in their Rugby Championship opener and still claimed a convincing win over the Wallabies in the second Test.

Louw revealed that the Bok boss told the players of his plans but did not guarantee that the wholesale changes would happen.

“Rassie was always open with us and he told us that he’s not making any promises but that this is his plan and this is what he wants to do so luckily we got the result in the first Test and that made it a bit easier for him to make the rotations for the second Test,” Louw said.

“I think we just showed what type of depth we have in South Africa by making 10 changes and still getting the five points in Australia.”