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.
The All Blacks coach has used his media - who meet with him every week for a two hour off-record session - to try and craft the narratives to disrupt the Boks on their home ground, with Erasmus finally getting sick and tired of it and responding in the post-match press conference.
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.
Erasmus was famously banned in 2021 during the British and Irish Lions tour for an hour long video that was leaked about referee Nic Berry’s refereeing decisions during the first test and has since appointed former test referee Jaco Peyper as his laws advisor for the Bok side to ensure they are within the laws at all time.
ERASMUS HAS BEEN RESERVED
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.
Nika Amashukeli is the referee on Saturday and the Georgian is known for his fairness, and the way he handles scrums, so the Boks will hope he gives them a better platform to work off.
But the way that Gardner refereed the scrums in comparison to Matthew Carley in the first test was chalk and cheese.
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.
And we will never, ever in our life say, 'let's walk around the team,' because that's not our strength — that's not how we do it. So I'm not frustrated with the fact that Dave wants to get it out. There are a lot of things I wanna get out about New Zealand too, and I only have five clips I can send in post-match. So if I name another four here, it's against the protocol, because the protocol is you send it through the AMS. So I can guarantee you we don't wanna put more pressure on the referees through the media.
SPIRIT OF THE GAME
“So for me, that's just — if you talk about changing three players before a match, which was tactical, and people say that's against the laws and against the spirit of the game — surely coming to a press conference and naming things that's out there now is another tactic to do it that way. And that's more the frustrating part. And I'm friends with him, and I understand what he's trying to do — as long as that doesn't succeed.
“But Nika is a sharp referee. He comes from Georgia — he knows scrums, he's coached Georgia, he's played rugby himself, he knows how scrums get handled. And yeah, that was the frustration, only reason.”
Erasmus seems to be caught off guard by the clear tactic of Rennie, who has exploited the extra media coverage the team has got on this tour to sell his narratives to anyone who will listen.
But it has also made him more determined to win the series and do the talking on the field to ensure that the sideshows don’t take precedence.
Whether it will stop Rennie from continuing his tactics — which seem to have the implicit approval of World Rugby by their silence — is another question.
Surely if it is against the protocols, World Rugby should have a word or two, rather than let the situation spiral any further and add fuel to the fire of a test series that has delivered great rugby on the field.
It is after all a system they created without consultation, and which is clearly frustrating coaches across the world (Gonzalo Quesada’s outburst after Italy’s loss to New Zealand got him a ban).