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'Save our f***ing country': Unseen video of ex-Springboks coach Rassie Erasmus' powerful World Cup speech
By Online Editors
A new documentary has revealed Rassie Erasmus' powerful team talk ahead of the Springboks' quarter-final clash against Japan in last year's Rugby World Cup.
In the inspiring speech, the Springboks coach tells his players what they're really playing for and to use that as fuel against the hosts.
"When you get the f***ing chance, physically bully these guys today," Erasmus says in an uncut pre-match team talk from the Springboks' World Cup documentary Chasing The Sun.
"They can't turn it on and say 'here we are'. They are tough little guys who have things that they call inside them. They have this mental thing where they prepare. They've got mental coaches and s***.
"You play for different things. You play for your mum and things like that. You come from a tough background. And we're going to need that s*** today.
"These guys do it because they want to grow the game of rugby. We want to do it because we want to save our f***ing country … We've got f***ing 40 murders a day. All the women get raped every day.
"These guys are playing rugby to get it on the map. That's their motivation. They've got a 120 million people, they're one of the richest countries in the world, that's their motivation. It's pissing me off that they think that gives them the right."
At one point, Erasmus turns to individual players and tells them to intimidate the Japanese right from the outset.
"Don't smile at them. Please don't smile at them. Siya [Kolisi], when you get the toss, let them get the idea 'I'm here to f*** you up'.
"From the first kickoff, from the first scrum, look them in the eye ball and let him understand all the s*** that they wrote in the newspaper.
"If you've got respect for me, because I've got a lot of respect for you guys, if you guys walk out of here and think that this is a joke, then you're joking with the country and you're joking with South Africa.
"I want you to take this up seriously and I want you to f*** them up physically for 15 to 20 minutes. And if they give in, fantastic, and if they don't give in, then we just tactically with the plan f*** them up.
"These guys are playing for something much smaller than we play. They're playing to put rugby on the map. We're playing to put a country together."
The Springboks ended up defeating Japan in a dominant 26-3 win and would go on to claim the World Cup title.
Watch the full uncut team talk below (warning: explicit language):
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Latest Comments
More indecision and excuses from Razor.
You've given a spot at 6 to Finau whom you haven't even had the courage to use off the bench in the last two games. Now the young enforcer is going into a big much with no rugby, we should expect a similar result to how Aumua struggled to impact a game after he'd hardly been given any chances of the bench either.
Weve now dropped a back three player who also wasn't even given any game time off the bench for someone coming in cold when they really need to have been playing constantly to perform at their best. There are just so many better pictures that should have been present rather than this mickey mouse selection.
I really hope Finau can overcome this, it won't be the first time he's had to. How is the bench even made up? Could you not just have included these changes in the article as well? I actually like BB coming back in, it highlights how courageous he is after sitting out through another concussion that could just as easily sent him back into months of symptoms again.
Dmac was also off his game last week, as was Ratima, with the poor platform Razor and his team have been setting the players up with. He needs to freedom to clear his mind from the clutter that saw him make so many bad decisions last week. It will still probably be a net loss for the team performance not having him on from the start but it should be better for them in the long run if he's allowed to just come on late and play his game trying to claw things back for the team.
With Roigard starting that might prove an outlet for the team to actually get on top first however. Along with Ardie busting a gut in his new role and emptying the tank by halftime, and being replaced by another new star, might mean that Dmac is just icing on the cake at the end.
Go to commentsLet's hope so, that was a fantastic game.
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