The tide appears to be turning. Comments made by John Smit, South Africa’s Rugby World Cup-winning captain, felt pertinent.
“It’s hard to defend [Rassie]. The way he has approached this is not right,” Smit told the BBC’s Rugby Union Daily Podcast. “Are you telling me Rassie is the only coach frustrated by a call that has gone the wrong way? Something has to be done. There has to be a line that has to be drawn, and he is making it difficult for his team. It’s made us, as a rugby team, so easy to dislike.”
Nick Mallett, the former Springboks head coach, suggested in a column this week that the reason South Africa were not being awarded big calls in matches was because of Erasmus’ actions. “Why should they give an advantage to a team that has sought to embarrass them through their director of rugby?” Mallett asked. Now, today’s referees are too professional and under too much scrutiny for Erasmus’ comments to affect their decisions. But, as humans copping waves of public criticism, could you blame them?
If the plan behind the Erasmus tweets is to distract attention away from the team’s performances then it certainly works, so why not focus on South Africa in 2022 for a moment. Losing at Twickenham would mean three out of four defeats this autumn. They narrowly lost the Rugby Championship title, having been beaten by the All Blacks at fortress Ellis Park. Nienaber/Erasmus have experimented and there are question marks over who backs up Handre Pollard at fly-half – Manie Libbok has shown promise – debate over who should start at No 8, and doubts on whether South Africa can attack effectively without Willie le Roux on the field. The 2-1 series win over Wales in the summer certainly looks less impressive now given the hole Wayne Pivac’s side are in after losing to Georgia.
South Africa arrive at Twickenham, without a number of usual starters through injury and release issues, having won eight Tests out of 13 in 2022. No disaster, but all that matters anyway is peaking for 2023, with the South Africa ‘A’ matches on this tour designed to further examine the depth available.
Yet all the positives from this year – the convincing win over the All Blacks in Mbombela, pushing France close in Marseille despite Pieter-Steph du Toit’s red card, the form of Lukhanyo Am and Eben Etzebeth, the emergence of Kurt-Lee Arendse and Jaden Hendrikse – feel overshadowed by the actions of Erasmus.
Erasmus is banned for now but long-term, this approach of publicly criticising referees feels unsustainable. After Mbonambi’s comment last week, every interaction between the Springbok players and referee Angus Gardner at Twickenham on Saturday will be scrutinised to see how deeply rooted Erasmus’ agenda has become. Good luck to Gardner. Don’t read your mentions afterwards.
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