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'Incredible': Erasmus tweets about smart tactics' of Sexton, Steyn

By Liam Heagney

21 Sep 2022

(Photo by Steve Haag/Gallo Images)

South African director of rugby Rassie Erasmus has tweeted praise for veteran pair Johnny Sexton and Frans Steyn and the way they are still a force at the highest level of Test rugby with their respective teams, Ireland and the Springboks.

The 37-year-old Sexton has arrived into the 2022/23 season off the back of the historic Test series victory away to the All Blacks that currently has Ireland positioned at No1 in the World Rugby rankings. Meanwhile, the 35-year-old Steyn stepped off the Springboks bench last Saturday in Buenos Aires in place of the concussed Damian Willemse to steer them to their Rugby Championship victory over Argentina.

With South Africa currently third on the World Rugby rankings, they now go in search of the Championship title in this weekend’s Durban rematch versus the Pumas, a match that will see utility back Steyn run onto the pitch wearing his country’s No10 jersey for the first time since a June 2008 game versus Italy.

Showing a picture of the world rankings with the positions of Ireland and the Springboks circled, Erasmus also uploaded pictures of Sexton and Steyn to his Twitter account that had the ages of both players circled.

In the accompanying text, Erasmus wrote: “My opinion. Just incredible how these two top guys and players still doing the job at the highest level considering the type of players they are – physicality and smart tactics every game. Lekka!! Proud.”

My opinion : Just incredible how these two top guys and players still doing the job at the highest level(considering the type of players they are ( physicality and smart tactics every game) Lekka !!Proud ???? pic.twitter.com/IkMAbeCmY3

— Rassie Erasmus (@RassieRugby) September 21, 2022

The compliment about the two 30-somethings is an intriguing observation for Erasmus, the Springboks rugby boss, to make as it is now practically just a year out from when Ireland take on South Africa in what is viewed as the pivotal Pool B fixture in Paris at the 2023 World Cup finals.

Steyn was named as the Springboks No10 on Tuesday after head coach Jacques Nienaber opted against recalling the axed Elton Jantjies to the squad after he was sent home the previous week from Argentina due to allegations about his personal life.

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Comments on RugbyPass

johnz 10 minutes ago

All Blacks talk late-game adjustments after clutch England win

I guess the other option would be to start ALB, he's looked good in the 12 so far when he starts and sets up those outside him. But that would mean putting the vice captain on the bench, which is unlikely. Another option would be to drop Reiko to the bench and play Proctor, though he's gone home so that's not going to happen either.

Both of those players just offer more of the soft distribution skills good centres learn from playing their careers there. Unfortunately that's what's lacking with the current combo.

11 Go to comments

ColinK 10 minutes ago

Are the All Blacks doomed to a 70% flatline?

Whatever let's see if this load of waffle is still valid in 2 years time. ABs will rise we have a lot of new talent coming through. The NPC was the highest standard for years. The game is changing to suit the fast pace we like to play. We get to play the Springboks more, including the franchises, which will make us better! Overall I am optimistic. I will add having watched the England game multiple times we made most of the play. England are an awesome physical team, but you can expect the All Blacks to get better and better at executing the chances. It could easily have been 5 tries to one instead of 3 to 1.

1 Go to comments

johnz 18 minutes ago

All Blacks talk late-game adjustments after clutch England win

Ratima did look rattled, compared to Roigard who looked like a boss when he came on. But that's been Roigard in test rugby so far. Ratima is only really starting because of Roigard's injury, otherwise surely Roigard was the incumbent. So it's not just one outing of the pine, that just points to Roigard being ready to have a start. As good as Ratima has been, Roigard just offers more.

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GL 57 minutes ago

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Cody Taylor is a more significant loss than BB, not even close!

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JD 1 hour ago

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Won't see a player like him nor, hopefully, an arsehole like him either. Odious kant.

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CO 1 hour ago

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I agree largely and I rate McKenzie as a wonderful utility at his best but now at twenty nine I wouldn't take him to the next world cup. I've never seen him as a a ten or a starter either at top tier test level. The bench needs a serious rethink with ideally a hybrid halfback/wing or a hybrid halfback/ten or a hybrid ten/centre to release that need for two relatively small guys on the bench.

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RW 1 hour ago

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CO 1 hour ago

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Unbelievable, the penalty count was so lopsided in last week's first half I'm certain the conspiracy theorists have already had a field day.

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JWH 1 hour ago

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Good idea, but to move a lock to 6 now with no previous experience save Scott Barrett (who is still our best lock) ahead of the 2nd best equal team in the world may cause more harm than good in terms of confidence, in both caoches and players.

Re lineout options, the ABs have the most innovative lineout in the world, with FOUR lineout options (Barrett, Vaai, Sititi, Savea), compared to Irelands maybe 2 (Beirne and Ryan). ABs will absolutely cause issues at the lineout, and definitely at scrum time. Those Irish props eat to much salad compared to our boys 💪

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JWH 1 hour ago

Scott Robertson responds to criticism over All Blacks' handling errors

I never said boring was bad, but it doesn't necessarily go hand in hand with the ABs style. The ABs 10 looks like this: a little magic, good offloads, tactical precision kicking, draw and pass, and a cool head to level it off.

A game manager isn't exactly necessary, as the ABs should all know what they are doing, and the 9 should be directing the forwards. However, considering the youth of our best 9s currently, a more vocal, directive, and logical player like Harry Plummer would make more sense than someone like DMac, who is in his own right a good 10, but tends to sit in wider channels where he can threaten the line more directly, so has less influence on the postioning of the narrower forwards.

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Kia koe 1 hour ago

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Yep yep I agree

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Icefarrow 2 hours ago

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B-but all the armchair critics tell me he's useless and does little for the team but get penalised... This simply cannot be!

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Thomas K 2 hours ago

England internationals disagree on final play execution vs All Blacks

So you think you’d definitely have scored way more tries if it wasn’t for all the off the ball shots? 🤣🤣