Northern Edition
Select Edition
Northern Northern
Southern Southern
Global Global
New Zealand New Zealand
France France

SARU boss says 'We have to keep perspective' ahead of All Blacks test

South African Rugby Union president Mark Alexander has come out in support of new coach Rassie Erasmus ahead of the Springboks encounter with the All Blacks at Westpac Stadium in Wellington.

ADVERTISEMENT

Alexander has reminded fans of the All Blacks current dominance, dampening expectations for this Springbok side.

“The Springboks have never won at Westpac Stadium. It would require a history-making effort to get the win,” he told Keo.co.za.

“I know the belief within the squad is such that Saturday could be that glory evening but the making of Rassie Erasmus as the Springbok coach won’t be in a victory or defeat on Saturday evening.

He firmly believes in the plan Erasmus has for building the Springboks into a World Cup contender, understanding there will be ‘hiccups’ along the way.

“Rassie was appointed because of the detail in his plan to build a squad that could be realistic challengers at the World Cup.

“Rassie’s legacy as a coach will be balanced against what the Springboks can produce at the 2019 World Cup and we trust everything in his plan over the next year to get the Springboks into a position of strength and World Cup tournament contenders.”

ADVERTISEMENT

“We knew there would be hiccups along the way. The World Cup remains the pinnacle in this plan,” he said.

The Springboks have lost two away matches in a row to Argentina in Mendoza and Australia in Brisbane, heaping pressure on Erasmus who took over the Springboks from embattled coach Allister Coetzee in February.

After a promising start over England in June, Erasmus shocked the media by stating that he could be out of a job if the Springboks lost to the All Blacks.

“If we do really bad here [against the All Blacks in Wellington on Saturday], then I will probably not be in the seat for the next couple of matches and somebody else will probably be there,” he said.

ADVERTISEMENT

That sentiment hasn’t been reflected by president Alexander, who has called for some perspective.

“There has to be perspective.

“We won a series against a very good England squad. We scored six tries against the Pumas in South Africa and the team created enough opportunities to beat the Wallabies in Brisbane. Mendoza was a disappointment for everyone but the performance in Brisbane was vastly improved.”

In other news:

Video Spacer

 

 

ADVERTISEMENT

Classic Wallabies vs British & Irish Legends | First Match | Full Match Replay

Did the Lions loosies get away with murder? And revisiting the Springboks lift | Whistle Watch

The First Test, Visiting The Great Barrier Reef & Poetry with Pierre | Ep 6: The Ultimate Test

KOKO Show | July 22nd | Full Throttle with Brisbane Test Review and Melbourne Preview

New Zealand v South Africa | World Rugby U20 Championship | Extended Highlights

USA vs England | Men's International | Full Match Replay

France v Argentina | World Rugby U20 Championship | Extended Highlights

Lions Share | Episode 4

Trending on RugbyPass

Comments

0 Comments
Be the first to comment...

Join free and tell us what you really think!

Sign up for free
ADVERTISEMENT

Latest Features

Comments on RugbyPass

J
JW 12 minutes ago
Competing interests and rotated squads: What the 'player welfare summer' is really telling us

Nice, that’s good to hear, I was worried for the tackler and it increasing concussions overall.


My question is still the same, and the important one though. Where the rate of concussions in Fed 2 high? Of course if there where only three concussions, and they were reduced now to one, then there is no need for the new laws etc.


There are two angles to this discussion, mine above about player welfare, and of course the that which you raise, legal responsibility. More, the legal responsibility we are concerned with is what’s happening now.


WR don’t really know much about CTE I wouldn’t think, whether it happens from innocuous things like heading a ball, or from small knocks or big knocks that don’t heal. Right now they are ensuring the backside is clean by implementing laws to rule out any possibility they didn’t do enough. So once they understand the problem more they may realise some things are overboard.


The other legal responsibility is the one you are talking about in France, the past. Did the LNR and WR know about the severity and frequency of CTE in rugby? That is the question in that debate. If they didn’t know then theres nothing they could have done, so there is no worry. Further, what we may have now is a situation where 90% of those court actions might not happen in future thanks to the new framework we already have around HIA and head contact processes. Your English example is only going to be an issue if future players still continue to receive CTE (as that is obviously bad), as it is now, the players have taken on their own responsibility by ignore advice. No doubt some countries, like France and New Zealand, will lower their tackle height, but as long as the union has done an adequate job in advising of the severity of the problem at least the legal shadow over the community game will have gone.

227 Go to comments
TRENDING
TRENDING Fissler Confidential: All Black to give Falcons wings Fissler Confidential: All Black to give Falcons wings