Springboks coach Rassie Erasmus says he plans to meet rival Dave Rennie before the second Test in Cape Town, but referee Nika Amashukeli will not be invited.
Instead, it will be a social call rather than a three-way discussion with the match official - Erasmus, in a bright mood days after his side’s 33-16 defeat to the All Blacks in the first Test in Johannesburg, saying only that beer will be on the agenda.
“Dave and I had a beer [after the Ellis Park Test], and we’re going to try to catch up on Friday for a beer in Cape Town,” Erasmus added. “But without the referee.”
World Rugby has forbidden coaches speaking to referees pre-match about potential law interpretations and concerns without both camps being present. Instead, as we saw last week, coaches have begun airing those thoughts before the media.
Speaking before the All Blacks’ come-from-behind victory over the Lions at Ellis Park yesterday, Erasmus said there was “no logic” in speaking to match officials now.
“In my opinion, there’s no logic behind two coaches meeting together and discussing the laws with the referee,” he said.
“It’s impossible to discuss something with the referee with the other coach present,” Erasmus added. “I’m going to say, ‘Listen, we are concerned about this in the scrums’, and he’s going to say, ‘But we do this in the scrums’.”
“You might say, ‘These guys really clean out well at the breakdown … will you be looking at that?’ But you can’t have that discussion in front of the referee, because then the opposition coach knows that’s what you’re looking at.
“So, what do you discuss with the referee? Boys, are you going to play within the laws? The laws of the game are the laws, so it’s almost impossible.”
The All Blacks have been open about wanting to play a fast game without breaks caused by suspicious injuries to the opposition, or long meetings before lineouts, with Erasmus firing back last week by presenting former Test referee Jaco Peyper, now a team advisor, to the media.
A day later assistant coach Felix Jones inferred that Rennie coached his teams in illegal and potentially unsafe tactics at the breakdown.
It was interesting that Erasmus brought up scrum issues because the All Blacks will want Georgian official Amashukeli to take a close look at the Boks’ front row tactics at the set piece on Sunday morning NZT.
The Boks won half a dozen scrum penalties at Ellis Park at the weekend but, while their scrum was dominant, it was helped by the front row wheeling the All Blacks in a clockwise action, itself an illegal movement.
“We’ll always debate scrums and when you’re penalised you question whether they’re walking around,” Rennie said afterwards. “They got penalised for walking around eventually and that was probably a key moment of the game.”
Erasmus, who has been boosted by the fitness of inspirational skipper Siya Kolisi, said he was “maybe too clever” last week by not covering for a potential early injury to an outside back.
Kurt-Lee Arendse’s departure after failing a head injury assessment after nine minutes meant the Boks were caught short by the All Blacks’ strategy of targeting the wide channels.
“Those long loop passes work because guys are out of position,” Erasmus said. “It was very clever.”
Erasmus added the Boks were “very desperate to win this game – you see that in the training sessions and the coaches’ sessions”.
Another All Blacks’ win would give them an unbeatable lead in the four-Test series.
The All Blacks will announce their team at 10pm (NZT) today.
The morning's headlines in 90 seconds, including hundreds missing after a landslide in Nepal, and Meta settles a massive lawsuit over alleged harm to children. (Source: 1News)
SHARE ME