Springboks latest on the Erasmus hearing and his role versus Wales

The Springboks are still in the dark regarding a verdict from the weekend disciplinary hearing that Rassie Erasmus attended following a misconduct charge filed against him following his criticism of the match officials after South Africa were defeated by the Lions in last July’s first Test match of the three-game series in Cape Town.  

Erasmus, the South African director of rugby, had spent that game running water onto the pitch to the Springboks players and he infamously released a 62-minute video in the aftermath challenging a multitude of decisions made during the match by referee Nic Berry and his team of officials. 

The 2019 Springboks World Cup-winning boss didn’t travel with his squad to Australia for the subsequent four-game leg of the Rugby Championship that was staged in Queensland over the course of September and October.  

Dan Biggar – Why the Autumn Nations Series is the most brutal of all

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However, he is now with head coach Jacques Nienaber and everyone else in Cardiff as the Springboks prepare for next Saturday’s opening game in their three-match northern hemisphere November tour which also features fixtures against Scotland and England. 

Nienaber had technological issues before announcing his team on Tuesday to face Wales and he ironically wound up using the laptop belonging to Erasmus to conduct his media briefing via Microsoft Teams. 

NO SECRECY: The latest weird twist in the Rassie Erasmus/World Rugby saga ?https://t.co/Cz16YrIBSb

— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) October 10, 2021

Asked if a verdict from last weekend’s hearing had emerged yet, Nienaber said: “I don’t think there is a verdict yet. I still think it is in recess or whatever they call it from a legal term. I don’t know. But in fairness from our side, our track record against Wales in Cardiff speaks for itself, so I am trying not to think too much about that [the possible Erasmus verdict] and probably focus on the rugby side of things because we will have to have our ducks in a row if we want to look to be competitive with Wales on the weekend.”

Regarding what role Erasmus will have for Saturday’s match at the Principality Stadium, Nienaber added: “Rassie will be in the coaches box with us, yeah.”  

TEAM NEWS: The Springboks have named their team for their first match since their early October Rugby Championship win over the All Blacks #AutumnNationsSeries #Springboks #WALvRSA #SouthAfricahttps://t.co/rr2gieyuZ2

— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) November 2, 2021