Online Reporter
Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus moved to explain his frustration with his opposite number, All Blacks coach Dave Rennie, that led to an outburst on Saturday night after the Springboks won the second test in Cape Town.
Rennie had just completed his press conference, and moved again to try and suggest the Boks were walking around in the scrum to illegally try and win penalties, prompting the expletive reply from Erasmus: “We are not f***king walking around the scrum.”
The frustration had clearly boiled over after weeks of Rennie suggesting the way the All Blacks play is the right way forward for World Rugby, that the Springboks slow down the game, and walk from set-piece to set-piece, that the Bok scrum is illegal and several other suggestions in the media to try and influence the match.
But on Monday in naming his team, Erasmus was a bit less frustrated, and explained that the reason for the outburst came because Rennie had insisted to try and continue selling narratives in the media when he knows full well there are protocols to be followed.
And Erasmus has – with the exception of one press conference with Peyper – kept his powder dry in replying to Rennie’s tactics, which are clearly trying to influence the narrative around the game.
In the second test it seemed to work as well, as Australian referee Angus Gardner abdicated his responsibility at the scrum and allowed the All Blacks to not only collapse the scrum at times, but also put the ball in under the locks’ feet.
The All Blacks also frustrated the Boks by shifting before the set, forcing the Boks to move left and this was the basis of Rennie’s claim.
Gardner had several conversations in the game with the Bok front rows and clearly frustrated them as they couldn’t get a proper scrum against their opponents.
Erasmus explained his frustration at Rennie’s comments, this time in a much calmer manner.
“My frustration was not so much that — that’s his opinion — but one can’t make opinion facts, and the moment it gets said as a fact . . . I mean, we don’t wanna go there,” Erasmus explained.
CLEAR PROTOCOLS
“There are now clear protocols in play — you send five clips in to AMS, which is a system designed for feedback, and there you raise your concerns. Now, if I sit here and I tell you all the time that New Zealand clean from the side of a breakdown and the referees must look into that, then for me that’s not adhering to the protocols.
“You’re talking to the referees through the media, and I’ve been burnt for that. The protocols are clearly in place — you must have a pre-match meeting with the referee, with the other coach present, and that’s how you raise your things and put it on the AMS system.
“So, no, I wanna say it again — obviously after the game, when you guys told me that in the media conference, it’s just frustrating because once you put a narrative out like that, everybody starts focusing on that. All media, all podcasts, everybody — and then they start analysing that.
“And there’s a lot of people analysing that who’ve got no knowledge about scrums, really. I myself wouldn’t be a person that talks with authority about scrums, but I do know how Daan (Human, the Bok scrum coach) coaches the scrums.” – SuperSport
