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Erasmus tweets promise following criticism from Springboks legend

(Photo by Hannah Peters/Getty Images)

Rassie Erasmus has been busy on Twitter again, this time reacting to online criticism from a former Springboks back-rower about South Africa’s attack despite last Saturday’s Rugby Championship win over the Wallabies in Sydney. Jacques Nienaber’s team scored four tries in the 24-8 win that was their first victory away to Australia in nine years, but it still didn’t satisfy one ex-Test forward who voiced his dissatisfaction on social media.

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Rob Louw, a flanker who played 19 times for the Springboks in the early 1980s, tweeted: “Who is in charge of our @Springboks attack? Why are we making so many basic attack errors? We should have won that game yesterday by 40 or more!!! Something is not right????”

The message soon produced a response from Erasmus, the South African director of rugby who was head coach when the 2019 World Cup was won in Japan. “Hi Rob. Thanks for all the support and backing the Boks.

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“All five coaches help out in all departments, we can’t even give the rain as an excuse for only scoring four tries (All Blacks showed us that). We will work hard to get better at it! Lekka.”

The message from Erasmus was accompanied by a picture of the current Rugby Championship standings and it had the ten tries scored by the Springboks circled in red. This ten-try tally after four rounds of matches is level with Argentina, one less than the Wallabies and four fewer than the All Blacks’ 14.

The tweet from Erasmus was picked up by Louw, who quit union in 1985 for a shot at rugby league in England. “@RassieRugby thought the try that our flank scored was outstanding with Marx running a great line very similar to what we used to run at Wigan, then it was great hands and an offload by Wiese! Thought the great pass from @Doogz for Mapimps try was! People think he can’t pass!

“Just so many simple five on two or three overlaps aren’t being run. I know we wanted to keep them in the corners with kicks but simple overlaps can’t go begging with the RWC around the corner,” he added. Erasmus responded with a thumbs-up emoji to Louw and there the Twitter exchange ended.

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TI 2 hours ago
All Blacks player ratings vs Italy | Autumn Nations Series

Rieko took literally years to turn from a defensive liability at 13 into a guy, who’s defensively sound as it befits the position. And it all came at the cost of him being much less of an offensive threat, than what he used to be. Proctor is a natural 13, he handles, passes, and kicks way better than Rieko ever will, he just isn’t as fast.


It’s unfair to judge Tupaea on the handful of games he’s had in 2022 before he got nearly crippled by a Wallaby lock. What could Tupaea/Proctor pairing be, if they got the same amount of chances as Jordie/Rieko?


Because no matter how you spin it, playing a player outside of his natural position is a poor asset management. No matter how talented he is, he still competes against players who had years and years of practice at the position. And if said guy is so talented that he actually CAN compete against specialists, imagine how much better still he could have been, if he had all those years to iron the toothing issues at the position. It just drives me mad.


Two things I hate in rugby union beyond description: aping after league, and playing players outside of their natural position. Especially considering, that they all admit they hate it, when they’re allowed to speak freely. Owen Farrell spent 80% of his international career at 12, saying every time when asked, that he is a 10 and prefers to play at 10. Those players are literally held at a gunpoint: play out of position, or no national jersey for you.

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