MOUR THAN ONE WAY TO MEET BOKS

EDDIE JONES has warned that Rassie Erasmus could ‘do a Jose Mourinho’ to get into Twickenham and deliver South Africa’s team talk.

The World Cup-winning coach (above) is banned from the game for publishing a series of sarcastic tweets criticising officials this autumn.

Asked how he thought Erasmus’ ban would affect the Springboks, Jones joked: “He might come in a laundry box.

“That’s been done before hasn’t it? Usually the Tottenham manager. I’m sure Rassie will get in somehow.”

In fact it was Chelsea that Mourinho was managing in 2005 when he claimed to have hidden in a laundry basket to get round a two-match ban.

According to the Special One, he sneaked into the dressing room before a Champions League quarter-final against Bayern Munich to greet his players before being smuggled out in a basket by the kit man.

But South Africa are not in a joking mood with Erasmus, their director of rugby, in hot water and head coach Jacques Nienaber complaining his team feels disrespected.

Wing legend Bryan Habana (inset) admitted: “Given all the distractions, I can’t think it’s easy being a South African rugby player at the moment”.

Former captain John Smit believes Erasmus’ behaviour has made the Springboks “so easy to dislike” while ex-coach Nick Mallett reckons it has led to refs being harsher on the Boks.

Habana agrees Erasmus’ tweets are not making the referee and the officials’ decisions any easier.

But the Bok try-machine said the criticism needed to be seen in the context of the “massive amount of frustration” felt in South Africa since the Lions tour over a “lack of transparency and communication” on all sides.

He said: “As a player, as a coach where your job is on the line, when decisions go against you and you don’t understand why or they’re incorrect and the explanation for those incorrect decisions aren’t appropriately explained, it becomes a little difficult to understand.” ■