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Jason Ryan: Rassie Erasmus in three words, the Ox Nche 'wow' factor
By Liam Heagney
All Blacks forwards coach Jason Ryan was put on the spot in Paris on Tuesday when asked to describe SA Rugby director Rassie Erasmus in three words.
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“In three words? I don’t know. Passionate, authentic. I haven’t got another one. That’ll do. I haven’t thought about Rassie at all, to be honest,” he said, dismissing the mind games and all the other distractions associated with South Africa’s 2019 Rugby World Cup-winning head coach.
The Springboks qualified for their second successive final with a last-gasp, 16-15 comeback victory over England last Saturday, a knife-edge contest where the scrum became a massive last-quarter factor.
That pressure culminated in referee Ben O’Keeffe penalising the English at the game’s final scrum, allowing Handre Pollard to kick the winning points.
Asked if the scrummaging of Nche had caught his attention, Ryan replied: “Telling you mate, it does. He is some human, isn’t he? Wow. He is pretty strong at what he does but we have got a pretty good plan we believe in as well. We’ll be up for it.”
The All Blacks assistant went on to give his overall opinion on how the scrum has been officiated at France 2023. “It’s been pretty consistent,” he reckoned. “There have been a couple here and there that the timings might have been off.
“Conversations have been happening all the time and they try to do the best they can along with the ARs (assistant referees). The communication has been pretty open. A decision can happen pretty quickly when you have 16 guys trying to hit each other at full force.
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“Their set-piece is phenomenal. They are a big team. They have got a really clear identity of the way they want to play and they have got good bits of variation of how they use the ball.”
That said, Ryan is immensely proud of the way the All Blacks have bounced back from their opening night defeat last month to make it all the way to next Saturday’s Stade de France final.
“We got to the final, so that’s not a bad stride,” he enthused. “We have made some good progress in a few areas. We are trending in the right direction and looking forward to a decent crack against the Boks, who we respect immensely.
“The boys have shown a lot of care. We have challenged them in certain areas on the training field and had some good honest conversations in our meetings. We have set ourselves up to give ourselves a chance, I’m extremely proud of what we have achieved and we have got one to go.
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“Accuracy is a big part of discipline. Often you talk about discipline but you have got to be accurate. Discipline can mean that sometimes you are a little bit passive as well. This contest is going to be a title fight.
“It’s going to be huge and accuracy and momentum shifts are a big part of it. Momentum shifts will swing and they can swing really quickly, the scoreboard can change quickly. Both teams can score and get momentum so being accurate around the park is quite an important one.”
The All Blacks go through their paces in Paris ahead of the Rugby World Cup final versus the Springboks. #RWC2023 #NZLvRSA #AllBlacks pic.twitter.com/riAfNbAH1c
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) October 24, 2023
Any more Barrett brothers running around? How about the Barrett squad for the ABs off the bench? Mom at scrumhalf?
Rassie must play chess. He will know NZ will try and neutralize Ox so he will have Ox do something new and catch NZ off guard.
The aerial battle will matter. The set pieces are likely to be a wash. What will matter most is whether teams are allowed to join the ruck from the side, “bind” to players not in the ruck, interfere with ruck play while on the ground, loiter offside at the ruck, etc. NZ have 100 tricks like this, and if they are allowed to do it the game will be much harder for SA to win. If SA are allowed to get clean attacking ball from the ruck, and are allowed to contest for ruck ball cleanly on defense, they will be hard to beat.
“In three words? I don’t know.”
Good on ya Jason