Rassie Erasmus has elaborated on his frustration that led to a profanity during Saturday's post-match press conference.
The Springboks claimed an all-important win over the All Blacks in Cape Town on Saturday to level up the four-match series, but Rassie Erasmus was not all smiles throughout the post-match press conference.
Erasmus was asked about the comments from New Zealand coach Dave Rennie, who had accused the Springboks of “walking around” during certain scrums, clearly seeking to highlight what he viewed as illegal technicalities at that set piece.
However, the Springbok coach was having none of it.
“It’s the first time ever in history that people are talking about us walking around,” he said. “Why would we want to start a walk around in this [Test].”
“At the first six scums for New Zealand, every single one collapsed and it was reset, reset, reset, reset, so why is it only on their ball that the scum can’t collapse every single time? Erasmus questioned.
“There’s obviously a plan to get that message out and we’re not going to stay quiet and just say ‘oh you’re right we’re walking around’.
“We’re not f*cking walking around, we’re just coming through [the middle], we’ve never ever been accused of walking around so I don’t understand it.”
After naming the Springbok team for the third Test on Monday, Erasmus further explained where his frustration lay.
“My frustration wasn’t so much about his opinion, but when an opinion gets presented as fact. There are now clear protocols for this. You get five clips to send to World Rugby’s officiating system, and that’s where you raise your concerns.
“If I sat here and said New Zealand are cleaning out illegally at the breakdown and the referees must look into it, that’s not the protocol, that’s talking to referees through the media, and I’ve been burned for that before.
“Once you put a narrative like that out there, everybody starts focusing on it – all the media, all the podcasts, everyone starts analysing it – and a lot of people doing that analysis have no real knowledge of scrums.
“We don’t want to put more pressure on referees through the media… I’m friends with Dave, and I understand what he’s trying to do,” he added.
This Saturday’s match at FNB Stadium kicks off at 17:10 and will be broadcast live on SuperSport.
SPRINGBOKS – 15 Cheslin Kolbe, 14 Kurt-Lee Arendse, 13 Jesse Kriel, 12 Damian de Allende, 11 Ethan Hooker, 10 Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, 9 Cobus Reinach, 8 Jasper Wiese, 7 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 6 Siya Kolisi (c), 5 Ruan Nortjé, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 3 Wilco Louw, 2 Malcolm Marx, 1 Ox Nché.
Subs: 16 Deon Fourie, 17 Gerhard Steenekamp, 18 Thomas du Toit, 19 Lood de Jager, 20 André Esterhuizen, 21 Cameron Hanekom, 22 Morne van den Berg, 23 Manie Libbok.
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