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Cryptic Erasmus tweet about the tackle that left Adams needing HIA
By Liam Heagney
Springboks World Cup winner Rassie Erasmus has ended his recent Twitter hibernation by posting twice about last Saturday’s late-game crosskick by Dan Biggar to Josh Adams, cryptically claiming the footage from Twickenham highlighted how difficult a team Wales are to beat. The South African director of rugby is back at work in recent weeks following the two-month ban from all rugby activity imposed on him in November by World Rugby.
He was pencilled in to hold his first media briefing on Tuesday since his suspension, joining Lynne Cantwell, the South African women’s high-performance manager, on a virtual media conference call to discuss the plans and programme for the Springboks women and Springboks women’s sevens teams for 2022, as well as the landscape of the provincial women’s game in the country.
Erasmus, though, popped his head above the parapet before that media commitment to comment on an incident near the end of last Saturday’s Guinness Six Nations round three game in London which England won 23-19 against Wales.
The initial 15-second clip showed Biggar in the middle of the pitch inside his team’s own half finding Adams with an ambitious 78th-minute crosskick as they sought to chase down the margin which at that stage was 23-12.
“In my opinion, this is what makes Wales always a difficult team to beat!! Dan Biggar has the BMT in the 77th min to kick the crosskick on the spot to Josh Adams! Well defended by England!”
Curiously, Erasmus slowed down the clip when England defender Joe Marchant clattered into Adams to try and put a stop to his carry. The Springboks boss then replied to his own tweet by posting a one-minute, 15-second post of the footage that included an analysis ring around Biggar as he kicked the ball and another analysis ring as Adams was tackled by Marchant.
“This a better wider shot! Very tough to defend,” he wrote while he also tagged the Welsh Rugby Union and Agustin Pichot, the former World Rugby vice-chairman, in the tweet.
Adams was forced to leave the field for a head injury assessment when play was finally halted to award Wales a penalty for an infringement further up the field.
Erasmus made no comment about the injury sustained by the Welsh winger, but his cryptic inference could well have been that the Marchant tackle should have been reviewed by the TMO and checked to see whether it met the threshold for a red card to be brandished by the referee Mike Adamson.
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Latest Comments
It is if he thinks he’s got hold of the ball and there is at least one other player between him and the ball carrier, which is why he has to reach around and over their heads. Not a deliberate action for me.
Go to commentsI understand, but England 30 years ago were a set piece focused kick heavy team not big on using backs.
Same as now.
South African sides from any period will have a big bunch of forwards smashing it up and a first five booting everything in their own half.
NZ until recently rarely if ever scrummed for penalties; the scrum is to attack from, broken play, not structured is what we’re after.
Same as now.
These are ways of playing very ingrained into the culture.
If you were in an English club team and were off to Fiji for a game against a club team you’d never heard of and had no footage of, how would you prepare?
For a forward dominated grind or would you assume they will throw the ball about because they are Fijian?
A Fiji way. An English way.
An Australian way depends on who you’ve scraped together that hasn’t been picked off by AFL or NRL, and that changes from generation to generation a lot of the time.
Actually, maybe that is their style. In fact, yes they have a style.
Nevermind. Fuggit I’ve typed it all out now.
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