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Erasmus fires back at 'quirky quotes' Vunipola after Kolbe lift

(Photo by David Rogers/Getty Images)

Springboks director Rassie Erasmus has targeted Mako Vunipola in his incendiary hour-long assessment of last weekend’s first Test win by the Lions, issuing a stinging rebuke to the loosehead for his quirky description of his decision to lift Cheslin Kolbe up off the ground at a time when it appeared the South African winger had been injured.

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Erasmus initially took to Twitter early on Monday morning to complain about the Vunipola intervention, claiming: “Cheslin is obviously played in the air and clearly not direct into touch!! More importantly for youngsters watching this clip!!!! Please never move or touch an injured player on the ground, it’s reckless and dangerous! Leave this to the @WorldRugby @Springboks @lionsofficial.”

Vunipola was quickly given his chance to give his reply, appearing at a Lions media session later on Monday where he stated in response to Erasmus: “I guess if he was really hurt then it was a bit reckless, but I just felt like the collision wasn’t that bad. I saw that people were putting it up (on social media) and mentioning it. We were behind at the time and I wanted to get some tempo in the game so I wanted to get the ball off him.

Video Spacer

Rassie Erasmus’ spectacular 26-clip, hour-long criticism of the first Test officials

Video Spacer

Rassie Erasmus’ spectacular 26-clip, hour-long criticism of the first Test officials

“If I did hurt him then I do apologise but in the heat of the moment, you just react as you would naturally. He seemed to be alright, he played on in the game, so it wasn’t that reckless, was it?”

Erasmus revisited the incident in his dramatic 26-clip, hour-long first Test video review which he filmed on Tuesday and seeped into the public domain on Thursday. The Springboks boss insisted the Vunipola intervention was the third wrong thing to happen as he was adamant that Kolbe was tackled in the air by Ali Price and that he also landed with his foot in play and not in touch as ruled by the officials.  

Speaking in his scathing review of the 22-17 loss by the Springboks, Erasmus said: “People laugh at this one but even at primary school level in South Africa we get told when a player lies on the ground you leave him lying like that until the medics come up. We have a programme called BokSmart which we follow strictly where we know when a player is down on the ground you don’t touch him. You actually leave him in that position. 

“Now for me, it’s actually incredible that three things in a row happened here. The first thing is without a doubt, I can show you three angles where Cheslin Kolbe was played in the air. There was no penalty or referral for him being played in the air, that is the first part. 

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“Then in the second part, he actually landed infield and then he was taken out. And then the third thing, Vunipola comes and just pulls him up from the ground as if it’s just a doll which he picks up. If that was a serious neck injury or back injury I don’t think he would have laughed and had these quirky quotes which he currently has in the newspaper and which is all over social media. This shows a total lack of respect for the Springboks team. 

“Is it okay if any of the Lions players are injured Saturday and are lying on their back, will we just go and pull them up, say get up, you’re not injured? Is that the level of respect that is shown towards the Springboks if we show the same level of respect towards the Lions on Saturday? So three mistakes were made in this area. Played in the air, wasn’t out on the full… (and then Vunipola’s intervention).”

Erasmus went on to contrast the way Kolbe was manhandled with what happened to Faf de Klerk in the 68th minute when he tried to get his hands on a ball that was out of play for a Springboks lineout only to be held by Ken Owens and Maro Itoje.  

“It’s comical the respect the ARs [the assistant referees] and the other guys showed towards the South African players compared to the Lions players but I guess we saw that coming and we tried to tell the referees that but unfortunately it didn’t look like that worked.”

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J
JPM 1 hour ago
Forget Ireland, the All Blacks face the real alpha of Europe next

Unfortunately you don't know anything about French rugby, coaches and players but still making a lot of assumptions and judgements to push your prefabricated and simplistic point of view that Dupont is manipulating everything and is a bad guy. I am not a NZ rugby specialist and wouldn't dare make such theories about what is going on within the ABs team. Therefore my advice to you is to do like Dupont and stay humble when you don't know all the background of the issues !!!


Firstly if you knew a bit of Galthié, he is not the type of coach who is going to ask advice to his players and even his captain about team selection. He is as stubborn as you...


Second Ramos has played a lot of times as 10 with Toulouse and therefore Dupont (in particular when Ntamack is injured and unfortunately it has often happened recently and for long periods). He even played 10 during the last 3 games of the 2024 6N and this was far better performance than the first two games with Jalibert as 10.


Thirdly Jalibert lacked of respect to a La Rochelle player so your theory is once again out.


Fourth as I explained to you Galthié went for a 6-2 bench and Jalibert can only play 10 which doesn't fit that plan. Furthermore as 15 Buros is better under high balls than Ramos and everybody is prepared for a tactical kicking game.


So you can blame Galthié for a lot of things (as you clearly enjoy doing at the end of your post and you should be very happy as an AB fan) but certainly not Dupont. Sorry once more for your conspiracy theory.


And don't worry about potential disharmony in the French team; they are excellent mates around their captain. Jalibert is well known in the French rugby circles to have not a strong character (and we saw that in the WC quarter finals as he is very nervous in any decisive international game unlike Ntamack and Ramos as for his late penalty kick vs England this year).


In conclusion enjoy the game tmrw night. It is good that the ABs are very upset; we should watch a great game of rugby. I hope for running rugby and not too much kicking. With 5 key players injured on our side (Ntamack, Baille, Atonio, Cros and Penaud) and 2 on your side I and various French fans see you as favourites. I obviously hope for another result.


If you are interested you can read a good article in the Guardian on the subject of France-NZ games.

92 Go to comments
K
KB 1 hour ago
The 'one difference' between Boks and the back-to-back All Blacks

Consistency hasnt been there they have many great players SA were also not unbeaten in the 2023 WC - NZ were in 2015 WC McCaw and Carter Nonu and Smith - SA did not have those Marque players in those postions in 2019 or 2023 - I wouldnt rank them ahead of the 20I5 ABs - They clocked up 60 points against France in the QF - Furthermore I do not believe for one moment SA won 2023 fairly no way - they were so favoured it became obvious that behind the scenes SA the nation bought the title - Their last 3 matches were won by a solitary point there were many contentious decisions that went their way that it became obvious it wasnt coincidence - Sport has been hijacked by a satanic cult just as is Politics

Some players coaches officials and sponsors are involved - they know who they are - its called Freemasonry - any sport that allows betting is corrupt - its not all about money either for these parasites its also about control - Lots of American NFL players have spoken openly about games being scripted - Football is also rigged Referees have been caught on film showing freemason hand signs - The 95 RWC final ranks as the highest and most obvious attempt at cheating There was no way SA were going to allow NZ to gate crash Nelson Mandelas reunification party - NZ were so good they had to posion almost the entire team to get a 3 point win - a Hollywood Movie ( theres your Red Flag ) was made about SAs triumph called Invictus


William Henley wrote a poem called Invictus


It starts


Out of the night that covers me BLACK ( All Blacks ) as the pit from pole to pole, I thank whatever GODS maybe for my unconquerable Soul ...( Olan says INVICTUS is an evil Malevolent entity who corrupted the Titans ... this is Mandelas double meaning speech ( hes a fraud ) - of thanks for helping overcome SA's adversary NZ - There is only ONE true God Yahuah - Only a false god would be complicit in Cheating Corruption and Harming others to win a RWC for a sick and sinful Nation ) the poem ends with


I am the CAPTAIN of my soul


SA will forever bear the stain of guilt and disgrace over their involvement in poisoning the ABs a day before the 95 RWC Final

13 Go to comments
C
CO 2 hours ago
Forget Ireland, the All Blacks face the real alpha of Europe next

I cannot believe that you don't think the French rugby team coach and captain are not discussing putting Jalibert on the bench in favour of Duponts club teammate that doesn't even play at 10.


This is a terrible, massive insult to a 10 and I'm sure Dupont would also be very enraged if benched for a player that doesn't even play halfback.


A good captain would've insisted to the coach that it was an idea of madness and either select Jalibert or replace him with another 10 if you want him to be reserve.


Jalibert may not be the world's finest tacklers but that's often not a tens main strength that the loose forwards and second five cover. An intercept pass is never great but they happen.


When any player is playing for his club then it's club first, respect doesn't need to be shown to opposition players simply because they're internationals.


Who exactly are you claiming Jalibert hasn't respected? If it's Toulouse international players then it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure this bench demotion out.


The outcome of selecting Jalibert to the bench and he then throwing his croissants out the window of the team bus immediately prior to playing the Allblacks is a disaster that will be team disharmony as any team mates of Jalibert are in a state of anger and revolt so a performance that will be sub optimal against a team that is thirsting for revenge against France.


I don't know about you but the Allblacks are very upset they've lost twice in a row to France and want to put out a statement performance so this preparation by Galthie of creating havoc looks to me like a coach that is clueless.

92 Go to comments
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