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Rassie Erasmus hypes up England with fascinating comparison stats
By PA
Rassie Erasmus insists South Africa will not be lulled into complacency by the negativity surrounding the ability of World Cup semi-final opponents England.
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The reigning champions are red-hot favourites to win Saturday’s Paris showdown with Steve Borthwick’s side to keep their title defence on track.
England came into the tournament in dismal form and with plenty of fans and pundits predicting a pool-stage exit.
Yet Borthwick’s men are the only unbeaten side still standing and the northern hemisphere’s sole representative in the last four.
While England’s relatively smooth progress has been aided by a favourable route, Springboks director of rugby Erasmus is braced for a “very tough test” and highlighted the similar statistics of the two nations to emphasise his point.
“If we think England is bad because people from outside say that they are not doing well… our reality is the truth, not the reality that people create outside our camp,” he told a media briefing on Monday.
“We know from the Premiership, a lot of our players play against them, and we know Borthwick is an excellent coach which he showed at Leicester and as a captain and a player for England.
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“It will be a very tough test against a team that hasn’t lost a game and more or less conceded the same amount of tries and racked up the same amount of points (as us).
“If you look at England, they scored 19 tries and got 180 points and we scored 26 tries and also have 180 points.
“Then if you look on the points conceded side, they’ve conceded six tries, we’ve conceded seven and they’ve conceded 63 points and we’re 62.
“So, you can know how close this game (will be) if you just look at stats – and I know stats don’t always tell the whole picture.”
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Three-time winners South Africa set up a rematch of the 2019 final, which they won 32-12, by extinguishing the dream of hosts France.
The Springboks edged an epic Stade de France encounter 29-28 on Sunday evening to replace eliminated group phase rivals Ireland at the top of the world rankings.
“It was two teams that tactically, physically and mentally tried to really push one another to the edge,” Erasmus said of the clash with Fabien Galthie’s men.
“(It was) a relief to beat a team that is so well coached, which afterwards I had a beer with, and I must say the respect that he (Galthie) showed and the way he spoke to us afterwards was really humble and sincere.”
Just see O Keeffe is the Ref for the game.
The Waterboy and his mind games. Maybe a reminder that only 3 x teams have contested 4 x RWC Finals. New Zealand, Australia and England. All 3 teams have won at least once. Sth Africa and France have contested 3 x Finals each. The Waterboy doesnt need to post silly stats or leak video nasties because history speaks for itself. England doesnt need convincing that they can make the Final, but maybe The Waterboy does.
I think this match is a tough call. Two very physical teams and both with great defences. I think the decider will be the attacks.
My opinion and thoughts on Rassie have changed drastically. Wasn’t quite a fan of his treatment of refs during the B&I Lions tour. But you simply can’t deny his genius. The match on Sunday almost made it look like SA had engineered every single minute of the match.
England’s a great rugby nation and has taken in and given a lot of our players some great experience over the years. Good luck to both, I hope it’s a great game!
Kudos to France, it could have gone either way in the end.
To be fair England did well against Argentina. The Springboks play at a much higher level but England do have a couple of quality players. Hoping for a good contest.
The game will be closer than some thing, but the stats tell you nothing when England have had such easy games. SA by 5-10 is the most likely result.