Springboks coach Rassie Erasmus has fronted up to the media three times since Saturday night's defeat against the All Blacks.
Rassie Erasmus has never been one to hide when the heat is turned up, and in the wake of the Springboks' 33–16 loss to the All Blacks at Ellis Park, the head coach has once again placed himself directly in the line of fire.
Addressing the media on Tuesday for the third time since the final whistle in Johannesburg, Erasmus made a deliberate move to front up and shield his squad. Far from a tactical ploy or a PR exercise, the Bok boss insisted that the primary responsibility for the second-half unraveling in Johannesburg lies with the coaching box, not the players on the field.
"I'm not just shielding them; I'm taking responsibility for some decisions we made," Erasmus explained.
"The truth is that a lot of the things that we asked from them, they did. The plan didn't win the game for us, but it's definitely not the players that lost the game. I don’t want players to sit and explain why we lost if it was more on me than them. I'm just trying to be honest."
