Rugby
Rassie Erasmus Alters Team Announcement Tactics Ahead of Crucial Freedom Cup Clash
Springboks Head Coach Rassie Erasmus shifts team announcement to Thursday ahead of the Freedom Cup clash against the All Blacks, aiming for a strategic advantage in the crucial encounter.
Image Credits: Brendan Moran/Sportsfile via Getty Images
The Springboks beat the All Blacks in 1 of 2 encounters last weekend in Johannesburg.
On Thursday Springboks Head Coach Rassie Erasmus named their squad to face the All Blacks in Cape Town.
Erasmus decided to move the Team Announcement from the usual schedule on Tuesday to Thursday after the All Blacks team announcement. Victory in Cape Town the Springboks, will see the side regain the Freedom Cup last on in 2009.
Team Announcement on Thursday
Last week Erasmus named his team on Tuesday, which saw the centurion Eben Etzebeth initially ruled out for the clash against the All Blacks but later in the day he was included on the bench.
As Rassie stated he was fit enough to play. That begged the question if picking the side on Tuesday puts pressure on the management to pick players who are doubtful for the weekend and reveals their hand to the opposition early in the week.
“We never want upset the media. Announcing the team on a Tuesday is better for everybody…for us a team. We announce the team 8 o’clock on Monday internally. If you announce the team on Tuesday, we felt the speculation would be out there and something to write about. We have nothing to hide. The Eben case, I really don’t understand why people don’t understand that, he was injured on Monday and went for X-Rays. They said [medical advice] it would be a 10-day to week thing [injury] and he just trained on the Monday, that is the reason we changed the team on the Tuesday.”
So I said for this specific team, lets announce the team Thursday and hopefully everyone is happy. Next week we will do our Tuesday thing [team announcement] again.
Rassie Erasmus
The Freedom Cup
The last time South Africa won the Freedom Cup which is contested between themselves and New Zeeland was back in 2009. This year South Africa celebrates 30 years of democracy and freedom from the apartheid days.
“Winning the Freedom Cup is something we did talk about, we always said we want to represent the people. We haven’t won it since 2009 and we say we want to win but we got to win it on the field, you can say as much as you want but actions mean everything. We definitely spoke about that and it is symbolic for what we stand for and hopefully we bring it back.”
All Blacks vs. Springboks: Test 2
The All Blacks announced their squad 2 hours before the Springboks, which saw a few injury forced changes such as Caleb Clarke and Ethan Blackadder not being available this weekend. Erasmus gave his thoughts on their selection and what he expects from the All Blacks in the 2nd game.
“Sevu [Reece] and [Mark] Tel’ea…I remember that cross-kick Sevu scored that try against us in New Zealand, when he stepped Cheslin [Kolbe], cross-kick from Richie [Mo’unga]. He is very dangerous and Tel’ea is another guy is also dangerous, pumps his legs in contact and picks and go’s from the ruck.”
“We worked on our players understanding these type of individuals and being able to stop them. Caleb Clarke was fantastic but he is injured. Ethan is unfortunately injured and they had to make a change there.”
“If our attack isn’t working, we must remember who we playing against. It’s been working well up until now, I think and New Zealand are on the same amount of tries in the competition but I stand to be corrected.”
“Defence it’s also tough, they got Barrett [Jordie], Ioane [Rieko] and those guys who know a lot about Tony Brown. They scored 4 tries, one was Damian [de Allende] giving it to them with Barrett reading it well, after we did the same move 3 times in a row. The maul try was a technical issue and the other tries were well organised New Zealand tried from turnover which is difficult to defend against.”
Nathan has over a decade of knowledge and experience, both as a former professional sportsperson and journalist. Nathan, a former radio sports presenter and producer is an award-winning community radio sports producer/presenter.