{"id":273449,"date":"2025-11-09T15:09:15","date_gmt":"2025-11-09T15:09:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/273449\/"},"modified":"2025-11-09T15:09:15","modified_gmt":"2025-11-09T15:09:15","slug":"rassie-erasmus-lauds-bok-superstar-who-took-tough-call-on-the-chin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/273449\/","title":{"rendered":"Rassie Erasmus lauds Bok superstar who took tough call \u2018on the chin\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Rassie Erasmus has praised Springbok captain Siya Kolisi<\/a> for accepting a difficult halftime substitution \u201con the chin\u201d during South Africa\u2019s stirring 32\u201317 win over France<\/a> in Paris.<\/p>\n

The victory \u2014 South Africa\u2019s biggest in the French capital since 1997 \u2014 came despite Lood de Jager\u2019s red card late in the first half, forcing Erasmus into unplanned reshuffles on what was both his 50th Test as head coach and Kolisi\u2019s 100th cap.<\/p>\n

Kolisi was withdrawn at the break to allow Andre Esterhuizen<\/a> to cover the back row, a decision Erasmus admitted was a brutal one given the context.<\/p>\n

\u201cI also want to say thank you to our captain, who was taken off because Andre can play loose forward and centre, which was a tough call,\u201d said Erasmus. \u201cBut when I told him, he just took it on the chin and understood.\u201d<\/p>\n

Erasmus said the moment typified the selflessness running through the squad, crediting the collective mindset that helped the 14-man Boks storm back with three tries in the final 20 minutes at the Stade de France.<\/p>\n

Player Turnovers Lost <\/p>\n

1<\/p>\n

\"Team <\/p>\n

Romain Ntamack<\/p>\n

3<\/p>\n

2<\/p>\n

\"Team <\/p>\n

Kurt-Lee Arendse<\/p>\n

3<\/p>\n

3<\/p>\n

\"Team <\/p>\n

Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu<\/p>\n

3<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the guys who started probably softened up the opposition, and then the bench could go and finish it,\u201d he said. \u201cEven when Manie [Libbok] came on and Sasha [Feinberg-Mngomezulu] went to fullback, I thought everybody had a good impact. That comes from the players understanding that it\u2019s a 23-man effort, and the coaches made good plans, which made it easier for the players who came on from the bench.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Bok boss was quick to divert praise to his backroom staff for their influence at halftime.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can take very little credit for what was said at halftime because all the coaches of the different departments did most of the talking and made plans,\u201d said Erasmus. \u201cA lot of people said the players are getting older, but they are wiser. We desperately wanted to win this game. Playing here in France is tough, but fortunately, we experienced it in 2022 and 2023, so the experience of the players, and both the team and the assistant coaches made plans.\u201d<\/p>\n

Erasmus also paid tribute to South Africans who stayed up late to watch the Test back home.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was probably close to midnight at home when the final whistle sounded, so thank you to the people who stayed up and watched the game \u2013 we play for them and for South Africa,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Kolisi, who became just the ninth Springbok to reach 100 caps, described the occasion as emotional but insisted the win was all that mattered.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of my family were here and people who\u2019ve helped me along the way, and I\u2019m very grateful for that,\u201d said Kolisi. \u201cThat said, my focus was on the game because we knew how much they wanted to win this match.<\/p>\n

\u201cI must give credit to the team, they really played well, and I\u2019m proud of them and our coaching staff for making plans and not panicking. That\u2019s what makes this team special.<\/p>\n

\u201cOn a day like today, having to leave the field was a fitting example of putting the team first. When coach Rassie came to ask me, it was a case of putting the emotion aside because the team comes first, and I applaud them for the way they fought.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kolisi also returned the praise, marking Erasmus\u2019 own milestone with a heartfelt nod to his influence beyond rugby.<\/p>\n

\u201cToday was his 50th game as head coach, and he never made it about him this week. It was all about the team,\u201d he said. \u201cSo, thank you, Coach, for all that you do for us. You have no idea what you\u2019ve done, not just in rugby terms, but in the mindset in which we see each other and our country.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you speak, we take so much from you, so thank you for all that you do. We really appreciate it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Rassie Erasmus has praised Springbok captain Siya Kolisi for accepting a difficult halftime substitution \u201con the chin\u201d during…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":273450,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,760,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-273449","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-rugby","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-rugby","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/273449","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=273449"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/273449\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/273450"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=273449"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=273449"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=273449"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}