{"id":910141,"date":"2026-09-29T19:40:10","date_gmt":"2026-09-29T19:40:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/910141\/"},"modified":"2026-09-29T19:40:10","modified_gmt":"2026-09-29T19:40:10","slug":"reason-why-people-wont-get-out-the-swords-for-rassie-erasmus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/910141\/","title":{"rendered":"Reason why\u00a0people won’t ‘get out the swords\u2019 for Rassie Erasmus"},"content":{"rendered":"

Legendary Springboks<\/a> lock Victor Matfield has explained why Sunday\u2019s shock loss to the Wallabies won\u2019t have South African fans sharpening their swords for Rassie Erasmus.<\/p>\n

15 days after defeating the All Blacks in Baltimore to clinch a 3-1 series success in Rugby\u2019s Greatest Rivalry, a much-changed Springboks XV were ambushed by Australia in Perth.<\/p>\n

So troubling was the level of performance that the reigning double world champions trailed 42-17 with 15 minutes remaining, but a late flourish \u2013 helped by the farcical situation of the Wallabies having four overlapping yellow cards and playing with just 11 players \u2013 saw the margin of defeat reduced to four.<\/p>\n

However, the underwhelming Springbok display won\u2019t have fans up in arms complaining, according to Matfield. Appearing on Rugby Rivals<\/a> to analyse his former team\u2019s second loss in 14 matches, a run stretching back 12 months to their September 2025 defeat by the All Blacks in Auckland, he explained why it was awkward to be critical of head coach Erasmus.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe haven\u2019t had a two in a row for a very long time\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s difficult to criticise him,\u201d he admitted. \u201cWhat he has done with the team, what he has done for the country. I mean, if we lose another two or three, then the people will start getting out the swords, but we haven\u2019t had a two in a row for a very long time (November 2022).<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, yes, it was a Test match, but it was a friendly Test match. You don\u2019t really get friendly Test matches, but most South Africans almost didn\u2019t know we\u2019re playing Australia<\/a>. They thought it\u2019s only at the end of year we\u2019re playing again. So, everyone believes in him [Erasmus].\u201d<\/p>\n

Matfield experienced this first-hand on Sunday at a South African rugby club where he was a post-match speaker. \u201cAt the function, I went up and thought it was going to be very difficult, but as I walked up, they started playing \u2018Rassie\u2019 and everyone was standing up and cheering after a loss<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, I couldn\u2019t believe it. People believe in what he\u2019s doing, and he\u2019s shown it. We\u2019ve lost in World Cup pool matches, but when it\u2019s important to win games, he gets the guys together.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ex-Springboks boss questions Rassie Erasmus\u2019 selection: \u2018He looks like a lock playing flank\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n

Retired All Black<\/a> John Kirwan chipped in to voice his admiration for Erasmus\u2019 way of running the Springboks<\/a>, a confidence that resulted in him making 13 changes to the starting XV in Perth from the team that ran out in Baltimore<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s earned the right to do this stuff. Do I agree with some of the things he does? No\u2026 but the thing about Rassie is he pushes the boundaries all the time, and sometimes those boundaries backfire on them.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe pushed the boundaries this (past) week. If you\u2019re an Aussie and the Australians are a proud nation, Rassie changes 10 players (sic); they would see that as a personal insult.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re competitors, they like to win, so by doing some of this stuff, he\u2019s also giving the opposition a hell of a motivation, but he\u2019s earned the right and the courage that he shows to do that stuff is encouraged.\u201d<\/p>\n

Want more from Planet Rugby? Add us as\u00a0a preferred source on Google to your favourites list<\/a> for world-class coverage you can trust.<\/p>\n

Matfield<\/a>, though, wasn\u2019t giving Erasmus a free pass to excuse the loss, as he went on to outline how bemused he was with the Springboks\u2019 kicking plan.<\/p>\n

He compared the impact made by Wallaby Joseph Suaalii in the air as akin to what used to happen when Israel Folau was in his pomp. Sunday was midfielder Suaalii\u2019s first outing on the wing, and he was allowed to shine because of the South African kicking strategy.<\/p>\n

Reflecting on the match, the retired Bok forward said: \u201cThe one thing that I couldn\u2019t understand is, we say we are a detailed coaching staff, but a lot of our kicks went up onto Suaalii, who is one of the best guys under the high ball.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s almost like in the old days when you played Australia and Folau was there. You need to have a plan not to kick on him because he was the best in the world under the high ball, so you had to have other plans. Somehow it just felt like all our kicks went to Suaalii, and he was fantastic on the wing. Maybe that\u2019s his position.\u201d<\/p>\n

READ MORE: Who\u2019s hot and who\u2019s not: \u2018Statement\u2019 Wallaby win, \u2018unmistakable difference\u2019 Springboks can\u2019t ignore and \u2018unwanted\u2019 Irish clean sweep<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Legendary Springboks lock Victor Matfield has explained why Sunday\u2019s shock loss to the Wallabies won\u2019t have South African…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":910142,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[63,43,818,1182,44,10531,1183,41,39,42,40,1185],"class_list":["post-910141","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-australia","tag-headlines","tag-home-page","tag-internationals","tag-news","tag-rassie-erasmus","tag-south-africa","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-victor-matfield"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/910141","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=910141"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/910141\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/910142"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=910141"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=910141"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=910141"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}