Rassie Erasmus is the 'villain' who can 'save' the game
SPOTLIGHT: Ireland legend Keith Wood believes Rassie Erasmus’ innovations have “pushed the laws” and it could lay the foundation for the game’s next stage of evolution.
The Irish will welcome the world champions to the Aviva Stadium this weekend for a mouth-watering Nations Series clash, and Erasmus’s squad management is one of the main discussion points once again.
The use of Andre Esterhuisen as a hybrid player between forwards and backs has raised eyebrows this season and it has helped the Boks get out of some sticky situations, especially after permanent red cards.
For Wood, it shows that there could be smaller matchday squads in the future.
“I know Rassie, but not very well. We kind of collided with each other a bit when we played against each other,” Wood told rugby hospitality provider Vision 4 Sport.
“I got to meet him when he was in Munster. He plays the villain and at times, he is the villain!
“He also deflects everything away from the team. He has built breakaway thinking from a lot of South African teams of the past. Yes, he has a huge pack of forwards; in fact he has two huge packs of forwards.
“I like some of the innovations; others are bullsh*t. He’s kind of pushing the laws. But I also think he has the ability, and this is where the innovation has been excellent, to identify players who can actually play in, say, four positions.
“That wouldn’t have been thought of before. It’s Esterhuizen going into the back row at the weekend. I would like there to be only four or five subs in a game. And what Rassie has done is proven that it actually is possible because you can get players that cover different positions.
“You have five subs and that makes it interesting. You’re also asking players to be fitter and able to last longer and not to have an expectation of going off.”
Wood added: “There is not a great amount of joy in a front row for 70 minutes or 50 minutes, then they bring on a whole new team when you’re just getting on top of them. I liken it to being in the eighth or ninth round of a boxing match and they just changed the boxer!
“Rassie’s thinking has been phenomenal in that multi-use of player. Within that thinking could be, in my view, the saving of the game.
“You actually want people to be fitter and smaller. We’re happy to have big guys, but we want space. There’s a couple of guys that bely that, Will Skelton being one that can play 80 minutes, which means he’s truly extraordinary. But an awful lot of others can’t.
“I’m sure coaches would hate that.
“But you’re trying to have something that is affordable, so you’re talking fewer players, less match fees, and a whole variety of other things, maybe a couple fewer coaches, maybe smaller squads.
“It might take a period of time to do that. It might take a World Cup cycle to wean teams off 23 players down to 20.
“South Africa has big forwards that play really well and a good kicking 10. But they are promoting speed and attacking wingers, smaller players, better than anyone else. I love watching them play.”
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Wood also had huge praise for South Africa’s game model, which allows players to grow overseas.
“To be honest, I am not a huge fan of the number of subs that are there. But I would still say if you’re looking at what’s the method to try and win, it’s to try and have 30 players that are interchangeable,” said Wood.
“South Africa have actively done that, and they’ve done it in a different way from everybody else. They’ve done it by letting players go overseas and still picking them and managing them and using that as a really good model.
“It works when you have the number of players that are coming through the system like South Africa have. It wouldn’t really work for Ireland. We’d suffer quite heavily if our players all went overseas and we didn’t get to pick them.”
