Rassie set to beat new scrum rules
It is as if Rassie Erasmus preempted that World Rugby would immediately attempt to negate any Springbok strength with proposed law amendments, specific to the scrum.
World Rugby officials have spoken of the need to speed up the game, but in essence they want to defuse the Boks’ famed substitutes’ bench of picking six or seven forwards out of eight.
Erasmus, before the 2019 World Cup, manipulated the make-up of the eight substitutes through building a second pack to provide impact. It proved a masterstroke, playing with six forwards and, on occasion, even seven in the record-breaking 35-7 win against the All Blacks at Twickenham, before the 2023 World Cup.
It is ironic that the Boks would crush the All Blacks, having led 35-0 on 70 minutes, when going with what was effectively two packs. It was the biggest defeat yet in the history of the All Blacks.
For decades, Springbok coaches had tried to match the All Blacks for skill, for backline precision and pace. Some coaches veered totally away from South Africa’s primary strength of a physically imposing pack, and this resulted in record-breaking Bok defeats.
Erasmus went the other way. He invested in forwards — plenty of them. He found comfort in the historical DNA of the Springboks and South African rugby. However, his rugby brain never stops thinking, and what others call a risk, he calls innovation.
Erasmus, in the latter part of 2022, had already started evolving the Springbok style of play and their potency on attack. He, as the final sign-off on selection in his role as national director of rugby, and the then Springbok coach Jacques Nienaber introduced the Bulls utility back Kurt-Lee Arendse to the back three, and the fleetfooted winger was a starter in the winning 2023 World Cup final.
Erasmus and Nienaber picked teenager Canan Moodie to debut against the Wallabies in Australia. The 19-year-old was an immediate international success, and his transition to outside centre for the 35-7 win against the All Blacks was as effective.
The coaching duo promoted Damian Willemse to the starting fullback for the World Cup final, with veteran Willie le Roux playing off the bench, and they also picked
Law changes won’t restrict Erasmus’ Boks because his player and coaching attack selections show he is once more a few moves ahead of World Rugby’s lawmakers
Manie Libbok to start at flyhalf in Handre Pollard’s injury-enforced absence.
Another game-breaking attacking selection was that of Grant Williams, a scrumhalf by choice, but very good when starting on the right wing at the 2023 World Cup. Erasmus won the 2019 World Cup with Pollard at No 10, Makazole Mapimpi on the wing and Le Roux at full back. The Boks, in 2023, could play in two different ways with two different backlines. So much focus has been placed on the two-pack forwards that the monumental swing among the backs has largely been under the radar.
Libbok was masterful in many matches when starting at flyhalf against the Wallabies in Pretoria, against the Pumas in Argentina, and against the All Blacks at Twickenham.
Erasmus and Nienaber laid the foundation, and — when Nienaber left for Ireland’s
Leinster and the very impressive Bok backs assistant Felix Jones aligned with England — Erasmus showed his attacking intent in replacing Jones with former All Blacks flyhalf Tony Brown and former Ireland hooker Jerry Flannery.
Flannery worked with Erasmus and Nienaber at Munster. He slots in perfectly. Brown, backs coach of Japan and head coach of the Highlanders, also played a season at the Stormers when Erasmus was in charge.
Brown’s appointment is the most significant in further adding to the attack of the Boks, and the Kiwi is insistent his attacking philosophy will make the Boks more potent in the next four years.
Law changes will not restrict Erasmus’ Boks because his player and coaching attack selections are a statement that he is once more a few moves ahead of World Rugby’s lawmakers.