Predicting England’s starting line-up for Saturday’s Rugby World Cup semi-final was water off a duck’s back for the masterful South Africa boss Rassie Erasmus.
Last night, in a village hall an hour north of Paris, the Springboks rugby director sat down and read 15 names from a piece of paper to the assembled media. The former South Africa No8 was not naming his own team for Saturday’s Stade de France encounter, instead trying to second-guess England boss Steve Borthwick’s selection.
At the last, Erasmus added a 16th name, because he could not work out whether he thinks England will pick Marcus Smith or Freddie Steward at full-back.
Erasmus has delivered high theatre to Test rugby ever since taking on South Africa’s top job in 2017.
This latest press conference choreography is all part of a midweek dance designed to keep the spotlight and the pressure off both head coach Jacques Nienaber and the Boks’ players.
England are not hugely keen at this stage of the week to run the rule back again over their 32-12 loss by South Africa in the 2019 World Cup Final in Yokohama. Erasmus met the issue head-on, fully accepting that England may well have “beef” with the Boks for that loss four years ago in Japan.
South Africa’s third World Cup triumph crystallised Erasmus’s total overhaul of Springbok rugby.
The 50-year-old took the new position as South Africa’s rugby director in June 2017, charged with reversing the Boks’ fortunes. In March 2018, Erasmus
himself replaced the sacked Allister Coetzee as head coach, to hold the two top roles at the same time.
South Africa had 18 matches before the 2019 World Cup to turn their form and confidence upside down.
Erasmus’s string of bold decisions bore both short and long-term fruit.
The English team will have to feel like that, they will not be saying: ‘Hey, come and do it to us again,’ they will really fight to the end.
He installed Siya Kolisi as South Africa’s first-ever black captain, the flanker who grew up in a township but would go on to conquer the world.
Erasmus had set up South Africa’s Elite Player Development (EPD) pathway in 2013, a move designed to steer talented youngsters from underprivileged and underrepresented communities into rugby careers.
Lukhanyo Am and Makazole Mapimpi were two of those youngsters, and both shone in the 2019 showpiece.
In a country at times torn apart by gun violence and poverty, ever since the 1995 World Cup, rugby has been seen not just as a symbol of hope, but the Springboks as a team that could fix socio-economic problems.
Ministers have resigned when South Africa teams have underperformed to the country’s lofty expectations, and, of course, even the good times have not fixed a nation’s ills.
The image of Nelson Mandela wearing the Springbok jersey and standing next to Francois Pienaar in 1995 proved a snapshot of a country ready for change. That World Cup triumph on home soil heralded a country in political flux, and for the better.
But when Erasmus took over as head coach, such emotional momentum was entirely missing.
The new boss immediately relieved the pressure. He told his players to forget the wider significance, they were not ready for that burden. The basics were all South Africa needed to worry about back then.
The Boks drilled and drilled their set-piece and their maul, flexing all their considerable muscle as one of the biggest groups of Test players out there.
And then, when South Africa ploughed deep into the 2019 World Cup, Erasmus put that outside expectation back on. The astute boss told his players that they had the core parts of their game in place, so were in a position to carry the external burden.
But again, he found a way to relieve the pressure. Before the 2019 final, Erasmus (right) told his players that they were playing for a higher purpose. Rather than paralyse the team with fear, however, it galvanised the group. He explained that the players’ part in that higher Springbok purpose — to inspire a nation, to bring hope to those in desperate circumstances — was to release all ego.
To understand their place in the ecosystem was to know that individuals, and individual mistakes, did not matter, as long as the ultimate commitment was there to the collective.
The Boks battered England in that final and have never looked back.
Erasmus lost his way with public refereeing spats in the 2021 Lions series, criticising officials to the point where English referee Wayne Barnes cancelled an on-pitch presentation at Twickenham last year for fear of reprisals. Bridges were built through former referee Nigel Owens, respect was restored, and now South Africa are among the least penalised teams at this World Cup.
The Boks have also expanded their attacking game, to negate teams trying to blunt their set-piece weapons, as France so nearly managed in South Africa’s thrilling 29-28 quarter-final victory on Sunday night.
England can never relate to South Africa’s story, but they must understand it: the motivations caught them cold four years ago — and that cannot happen again.
