Story audio is generated using AI
Furious Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus dropped the F-bomb when he launched a passionate defence of the Springboks’ scrumming technique after they beat the All Blacks 33-26 in Cape Town on Saturday.Erasmus’ tirade was triggered by New Zealand coach Dave Rennie, who alleged the Bok front row had been illegally walking around in the second Test of Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry series.After losing the first Test at Ellis Park, the Boks bounced back with a vital victory to level the series at 1-1, with further Tests to be played at the FNB Stadium at Nasrec in Johannesburg and in Baltimore.“It’s the first time in history that these people are talking about us walking around. “Why would we want to start walking around now?” Erasmus asked.“We’re not f***** walking around. We scrum straight. We’ve never, ever, ever been accused of walking around, so I don’t understand.“The first six scrums in New Zealand’s half, every single one collapsed.“And it was reset, reset, reset. So why is it only on their ball that the scrums collapse every single time?“So don’t come with that nonsense and say we’re walking around, and try and put things out in the media.“If I start to put things out, then their last lineout was skew.Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus (Ashley Vlotman/Gallo Images) “I’m not going to moan my a*** off about that. If you just want to start moaning about stuff like that, then they’re under pressure.“Because last week we didn’t moan after there was clear head contact a lot of the time. “And today [Saturday], in the first 40 minutes, there were four head contacts, and nothing was done about it, and then Lood de Jager gets the first yellow card.“The moment we start moaning, and if you’re taking a clip of what I said at the end, it’s going to be a sensational headline.“But please don’t do it — put the whole thing where I’m answering it.“Don’t try and convince the people through the media, because that was what happened in the past week.“They tried to convince the people in the media, and we’re not going to take it.”An emotional Erasmus said the Boks did not want to get involved in a public debate over refereeing.“If the referees get caught up by that, then there’s obviously a plan to get that message out,” he said. “And then we don’t want to stay quiet and just say, ‘Oh, you’re right, we’re walking around’.”Rennie said there were still a few issues at scrum time that he wasn’t happy with in Cape Town.“The scrums were better in Cape Town,” he said. “I think referee Angus Gardner was pretty strong around setting a mark and trying to keep the hookers in the same sort of spacing.“When the Springboks moved across further left, then he stopped them. “We’ll get a bit of feedback around that, and it’s still a bit of an issue for us.“The Springboks were able to walk around and go straight through our tighthead prop, so there are a couple of technical things.“But I thought in the end both teams were able to play off the scrums, so I feel Angus did a reasonable job there.“I’m massively proud of the effort. We’ll lick our wounds, but there’s a lot of positive stuff we can take out of the game. We’re confident we can bounce back.“We were under the pump and a fair way behind on the scoreboard late in the piece, so huge amount of courage.”Scorers: SA 33: Tries: Jesse Kriel, Damian de Allende, Siya Kolisi. Conversions: Cheslin Kolbe (3). Penalties: Kolbe (4).New Zealand 26: Tries: Cam Roigard, Damian McKenzie, Leroy Carter, Ardie Savea. Conversions: Ruben Love (3).
