Springboks legend Schalk Burger believes that Rassie Erasmus is failing to find the right balance due to the continual switch in styles and personnel.<\/p>\n
South Africa won the 2019 and 2023 Rugby World Cups primarily based on set-piece, defence and an accurate kicking game, but they have looked to expand their game.<\/p>\n
New Zealander Tony Brown was brought in as the team\u2019s attack coach, and it appeared to have a positive effect in 2024 after they won 11 matches out of 13, with the two defeats by just one-point margins.<\/p>\n
Springboks dip in 2025<\/p>\n
They have suffered a dip recently, however, with losses to the Wallabies in Johannesburg and the All Blacks<\/a> at Eden Park.<\/p>\n In the clash against Australia, they opted for an expansive and up-tempo approach, but they were caught out and conceded 38 unanswered points in a 38-22 reversal.<\/p>\n Since then, the Springboks<\/a> have been more conservative and in Auckland, it was very much about the fundamentals of the sport.<\/p>\n Burger has duly questioned whether switching between game plans at opposite ends of the spectrum has harmed the team.<\/p>\n \u201cI think our biggest worry will be, where\u2019s our balance in the game? We obviously went from a pass-to-kick ratio of 12 to one, to almost playing like 2019 \u2013 one pass and kick, and quite conservative,\u201d he said on The Verdict.<\/p>\n \u201cOur team was set up that way, and then you\u2019ve got to chase the game at 14-0 down. Lineout, maul, there was no reward. Whether they did it legally or illegally, you\u2019ve got to move away from it.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat we\u2019ve built on with Tony Brown coming in is shape, but that shape disappeared. The problem is if you\u2019re chasing the game and you haven\u2019t run that shape, and you don\u2019t have those options in and around, instead of saying, \u2018listen here, let\u2019s run that shape but let\u2019s play the tighter options\u2019, we\u2019ve gone completely the other way.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve gone to kick it a lot, run straight at the defence, don\u2019t have the flankers roaming wide in the trams \u2013 you don\u2019t have a lot of movement around the ball carrier.<\/p>\n \u201cUnfortunately, at the weekend we set up to lead from the front and we had to chase the game down.\u201d<\/p>\n Ex-Springbok: Rassie Erasmus\u2019 innovation mistake as All Blacks \u2018would have never seen\u2019 trick play before<\/a><\/p>\n Rassie\u2019s reaction to Eden Park loss<\/p>\n