FOR ALL HIS unpredictability, in many ways Rassie Erasmus is a man of habit. This weekend’s rugby schedule pits his South Africa side against Ireland in Dublin, so as expected, click into Erasmus’ X profile this week and you’ll see the only account he’s following on the app is the official Irish Rugby account.
As sure as night follows day, by the time his squad has departed on a flight to Cardiff Irish Rugby will be dropped and Erasmus will be keeping tabs on the Welsh Rugby Union account.
It’s one of the smaller, more inconsequential quirks of a rugby coach who always has a couple of plates spinning. Under Erasmus, the back-to-back world champions have become the great agitators and innovators of world rugby.
They agitate because they push things, sometimes stepping over the line of what many feel is acceptable.
Yet they also add so much to the sport with their innovative approach to finding new ways to help them win. And that’s the key point to it all. No matter how far off course Erasmus drifts with his ideas, the end result is usually that his team comes out on top.
The 2023 World Cup was a perfect encapsulation of this. That was the tournament where the famed ‘bomb squad’ really came into play. The Boks had used a 6/2 split on their run to success at the 2019 World Cup but four years later, their decision to take it a step further with a highly unorthodox bench split of sevens forwards and just one replacement back massively divided opinion around the sport. Some saw it as genius, others went as far as saying it was morally wrong and outright dangerous. We know Erasmus is a master at channelling any such backlash as fuel for his players.
South Africa employed this 7/1 split in a World Cup warm-up against New Zealand and revisited the tactic for their pool stage defeat to Ireland and World Cup final win over the All Blacks.
We won’t a see a 7/1 in Dublin today but that’s not to say South Africa have stopped exploring new ways to slice up their matchday 23. For last weekend’s win over Italy, Erasmus named just two front row replacements on the Springboks bench, meaning he could also include two second-rows and two back-rows across a 6/2 split. That came in handy when South Africa lost lock Franco Mostert to an early red card (which has since been overturned) – the Springboks made four changes, including three in the pack, inside the opening half-hour.
With no specialist hooker on the bench, starting number eight Marco van Staden was designated as the hooker cover – a role he previously filled against Tonga at the 2023 World Cup.
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Van Staden is far from the only ‘hybrid’ player Erasmus has turned to. He sized up flanker Kwagga Smith, who has a Sevens background, and saw a forward who could also cover the backline.
More recently, 1.94m, 114kg centre Andre Esterhuizen has been enlisted as back row cover, a responsibility he’ll hold at Lansdowne Road this evening. Go to 2023 again, and flanker Deon Fourie was the back-up hooker in the squad. For the World Cup final Cheslin Kolbe started on the wing but was prepped to cover scrum-half.
Andre Esterhuizen has been handed a hybrid role. Alamy Stock Photo
Alamy Stock Photo
For the opposition, at least those personnel experiments can be identified and reviewed in advance of a game. What they do on the pitch, less so, and there has been an unmatched unpredictability to some of Erasmus’ plans over the years.
Hence the head-scratching when fullback Damian Willemse called for a scrum in the South Africa 22 from a mark during the 2023 quarter-final against France. It was a bold, brave move designed to dilute France’s kicking threat and play to South Africa’s strengths at the set-piece. As those watching on wrapped their heads around the decision, South Africa scrummed down and won a penalty.
By early summer 2024 the option was taken away, with World Rugby introducing Law 20.3: “It will no longer be possible to choose a scrum from a free kick. Free kicks must either be tapped or kicked to encourage more ball in flow.”
That wasn’t the first time an Erasmus scheme has ended with a law change. During the 2021 Lions series Erasmus took on the role of water carrier, which gave him direct contact with his players during breaks in play. In May 2022, an adjustment to Law 6 confirmed: “Water carriers cannot be a Director of Rugby or Head Coach.”
Such reactions feed an “us against the world” perception which has grown under Erasmus’ time in charge. This week alone, Erasmus claimed Irish pundits “don’t enjoy” him and assistant coach Mzwandile Stick said the Springboks aren’t “treated fairly” by match officials. This writer wouldn’t be alone in disputing both claims.
What is not up for debate is that Erasmus can provoke opposition coaches. Back in July, the Springboks deliberately conceded a scrum from their opening kick-off against Italy, with Manie Libbok kicking the ball less than 10 meters and André Esterhuizen offside, allowing the Boks turn to one of their strongest weapons at the very start of the game.
— Sky Sports Rugby Union (@SkySportsRugby) July 12, 2025
As it happened, Italy won a free kick at that scrum but head coach Gonzalo Quesada remained unimpressed with the ploy.
“Concerning the first action, I prefer not to do any comments. Because I was really surprised, I didn’t take it well. They can beat us without needing to do these kind of tactics.”
World Rugby later clarified South Africa had been guilty of “an intentional violation of the kick-off and restart laws.”
In the same game, South Africa took the novel move of manufacturing lineout pods in open play – the first of which led directly to a try for Canan Moodie.
The inspiration, according to Erasmus, came from the grassroots level in South Africa.
“We actually saw an Under-14 B schools team doing it, Paul Roos Gymnasium [in Paarl],” he explained. “We tried a few things and sometimes those things work and sometimes they don’t, and you have to take it on the chin if they don’t work.”
Some of those ideas come and go, others are deemed worth revisiting. The controversial ‘traffic lights’ system used to communicate messages from the coaching box to the pitch at the 2023 World Cup traces back to Erasmus’ time with the Cheetahs in the mid-2000s. Two years ago South Africa said they used those flashing lights to communicate around player injuries, but back at the Cheetahs, the system was designed to dictate which plays to run.
Like so many of his other ideas, like it or not, it’s hard to knock the ingenuity.
Erasmus & Co may or may not have some new tricks in store for their Irish hosts this evening. What we do know is that the most opinion-splitting side in world rugby remain the team to catch.
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South Africa remain rugby's great innovators and agitators
FOR ALL HIS unpredictability, in many ways Rassie Erasmus is a man of habit. This weekend’s rugby schedule pits his South Africa side against Ireland in Dublin, so as expected, click into Erasmus’ X profile this week and you’ll see the only account he’s following on the app is the official Irish Rugby account.
As sure as night follows day, by the time his squad has departed on a flight to Cardiff Irish Rugby will be dropped and Erasmus will be keeping tabs on the Welsh Rugby Union account.
It’s one of the smaller, more inconsequential quirks of a rugby coach who always has a couple of plates spinning. Under Erasmus, the back-to-back world champions have become the great agitators and innovators of world rugby.
They agitate because they push things, sometimes stepping over the line of what many feel is acceptable.
Yet they also add so much to the sport with their innovative approach to finding new ways to help them win. And that’s the key point to it all. No matter how far off course Erasmus drifts with his ideas, the end result is usually that his team comes out on top.
The 2023 World Cup was a perfect encapsulation of this. That was the tournament where the famed ‘bomb squad’ really came into play. The Boks had used a 6/2 split on their run to success at the 2019 World Cup but four years later, their decision to take it a step further with a highly unorthodox bench split of sevens forwards and just one replacement back massively divided opinion around the sport. Some saw it as genius, others went as far as saying it was morally wrong and outright dangerous. We know Erasmus is a master at channelling any such backlash as fuel for his players.
South Africa employed this 7/1 split in a World Cup warm-up against New Zealand and revisited the tactic for their pool stage defeat to Ireland and World Cup final win over the All Blacks.
We won’t a see a 7/1 in Dublin today but that’s not to say South Africa have stopped exploring new ways to slice up their matchday 23. For last weekend’s win over Italy, Erasmus named just two front row replacements on the Springboks bench, meaning he could also include two second-rows and two back-rows across a 6/2 split. That came in handy when South Africa lost lock Franco Mostert to an early red card (which has since been overturned) – the Springboks made four changes, including three in the pack, inside the opening half-hour.
With no specialist hooker on the bench, starting number eight Marco van Staden was designated as the hooker cover – a role he previously filled against Tonga at the 2023 World Cup.
Van Staden is far from the only ‘hybrid’ player Erasmus has turned to. He sized up flanker Kwagga Smith, who has a Sevens background, and saw a forward who could also cover the backline.
More recently, 1.94m, 114kg centre Andre Esterhuizen has been enlisted as back row cover, a responsibility he’ll hold at Lansdowne Road this evening. Go to 2023 again, and flanker Deon Fourie was the back-up hooker in the squad. For the World Cup final Cheslin Kolbe started on the wing but was prepped to cover scrum-half.
For the opposition, at least those personnel experiments can be identified and reviewed in advance of a game. What they do on the pitch, less so, and there has been an unmatched unpredictability to some of Erasmus’ plans over the years.
Hence the head-scratching when fullback Damian Willemse called for a scrum in the South Africa 22 from a mark during the 2023 quarter-final against France. It was a bold, brave move designed to dilute France’s kicking threat and play to South Africa’s strengths at the set-piece. As those watching on wrapped their heads around the decision, South Africa scrummed down and won a penalty.
By early summer 2024 the option was taken away, with World Rugby introducing Law 20.3: “It will no longer be possible to choose a scrum from a free kick. Free kicks must either be tapped or kicked to encourage more ball in flow.”
That wasn’t the first time an Erasmus scheme has ended with a law change. During the 2021 Lions series Erasmus took on the role of water carrier, which gave him direct contact with his players during breaks in play. In May 2022, an adjustment to Law 6 confirmed: “Water carriers cannot be a Director of Rugby or Head Coach.”
Such reactions feed an “us against the world” perception which has grown under Erasmus’ time in charge. This week alone, Erasmus claimed Irish pundits “don’t enjoy” him and assistant coach Mzwandile Stick said the Springboks aren’t “treated fairly” by match officials. This writer wouldn’t be alone in disputing both claims.
What is not up for debate is that Erasmus can provoke opposition coaches. Back in July, the Springboks deliberately conceded a scrum from their opening kick-off against Italy, with Manie Libbok kicking the ball less than 10 meters and André Esterhuizen offside, allowing the Boks turn to one of their strongest weapons at the very start of the game.
As it happened, Italy won a free kick at that scrum but head coach Gonzalo Quesada remained unimpressed with the ploy.
“Concerning the first action, I prefer not to do any comments. Because I was really surprised, I didn’t take it well. They can beat us without needing to do these kind of tactics.”
World Rugby later clarified South Africa had been guilty of “an intentional violation of the kick-off and restart laws.”
In the same game, South Africa took the novel move of manufacturing lineout pods in open play – the first of which led directly to a try for Canan Moodie.
The inspiration, according to Erasmus, came from the grassroots level in South Africa.
“We actually saw an Under-14 B schools team doing it, Paul Roos Gymnasium [in Paarl],” he explained. “We tried a few things and sometimes those things work and sometimes they don’t, and you have to take it on the chin if they don’t work.”
Some of those ideas come and go, others are deemed worth revisiting. The controversial ‘traffic lights’ system used to communicate messages from the coaching box to the pitch at the 2023 World Cup traces back to Erasmus’ time with the Cheetahs in the mid-2000s. Two years ago South Africa said they used those flashing lights to communicate around player injuries, but back at the Cheetahs, the system was designed to dictate which plays to run.
Like so many of his other ideas, like it or not, it’s hard to knock the ingenuity.
Erasmus & Co may or may not have some new tricks in store for their Irish hosts this evening. What we do know is that the most opinion-splitting side in world rugby remain the team to catch.
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