AUDIO - Rassie lays down the law: 'Rugby belongs to no one'
AUDIO: Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus has hit back at those criticising his latest innovations and said outright that rugby belongs to no one.
The Springboks put the cat amongst the pigeons with the latest antics they deployed against Italy in Gqeberha last weekend.
Some critics felt that World Rugby should step in, while others lamented that it was against the rules and the spirit of the game, and others lauded the coaching staff for going where no one had gone before.
Erasmus addressed the critics at the team announcement for the match against Georgia in Mbombela on Tuesday and boldly stated that rugby does not belong to one country.
“I don’t ever want this to sound arrogant. But rugby belongs to nobody.
“It’s not the English’s game, it’s not the French’s game, or New Zealand’s game. Everybody plays differently.
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“There are rules and laws in place, but Jannie de Beer kicked five drop goals in 1999. Is that against the spirit of the game?” he asked with genuine intent.
“The French ran the ball from everywhere – is that against the spirit of the game?
“If you put the ball into the scrum skew and you take the contest away, is that against the spirit of the game?
“If you want scrums in the game and you get it, we don’t put the ball into the scrum skew to get it over and done with.
“We want the scrum,” he explained, adding: “We could’ve kicked the ball out directly and gotten a scrum anyway, and nobody would’ve known. But we don’t want to hide it.
“It’s not what we want to do to the world, it’s what we want to do for ourselves. It’s what lifts us, what gets us up for the games.
“We don’t hide away from it, that we wanted the first scrum. We would rather show it than kick the ball out directly, and everybody thinks it was an accident.
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Rassie takes to social media again https://t.co/CTbIMi5M7c
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“We wanted the scrum and we would show we want the scrum..
“And the previous week, we couldn’t contest in the scrum because the ball was fed directly to the No.8.
“Even though it didn’t work out for us, and there are many things that don’t work out for us, which we try, but we try.
“We take that on the chin.”
“There are line-out moves where we get outsmarted.”
The coach reflected on the past, saying other countries came up with novel ideas in the days when he was still playing.
“New Zealand had fantastic line-out moves where they would have a jump at the back, and they would throw it in the middle with Tony Woodcock in the old days, who would score a try, and that was magnificent.
“But then there was an early jump in the line-out. But you wouldn’t moan about it. You would say that is creative, that is well done.
“The French kicks the ball long into your in-goal area, and you just kick the ball out.
“Is that against the spirit of the game?
“I don’t know who the people are that decide what is against the spirit of the game, and who owns the rights to that?
“Whoever plays in which way, we play for South Africa. We don’t do it for the rest of the world.
“It’s a bit frustrating. We do it for us, for our people. For South Africa and the way we play.
“If they want us to be dumb, boring side to just bully all day – if they want that back, I don’t think our people want that back.
“It’s not against any rules or protocols. As long as we are happy in South Africa, it’s all good.”
