{"id":483408,"date":"2026-06-18T09:50:10","date_gmt":"2026-06-18T09:50:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/483408\/"},"modified":"2026-06-18T09:50:10","modified_gmt":"2026-06-18T09:50:10","slug":"rassie-erasmus-better-record-verdict-on-scott-robertson-after-brutal-all-blacks-sacking","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/483408\/","title":{"rendered":"Rassie Erasmus’ ‘better record’ verdict on Scott Robertson after brutal All Blacks sacking"},"content":{"rendered":"

Springboks boss Rassie Erasmus is expecting a stern challenge from the Scott Robertson-coached Barbarians when the teams clash this weekend.<\/p>\n

South Africa take on the invitational team on Saturday in preparation for the Nations Championship when they start off against England in July.<\/p>\n

Erasmus<\/a> has named a number of experienced players in his side and they will be expected to put a big score on their opponents, who have brought players in from around the world to take part in this encounter.<\/p>\n

Rassie Erasmus expects an intense match<\/p>\n

It is a strong-looking Baa-Baas<\/a> squad on paper but it is another thing to get them to gel after just a few training sessions.<\/p>\n

However, even when taking that into account and the various socials the Barbarians have become renowned for, the Boks<\/a> head coach still believes that they will bring intensity and physicality on the pitch.<\/p>\n

\u201cI coached the Barbarians in either 2018 or 2019 and we were playing Argentina. Although it\u2019s a fun week obviously \u2013 there\u2019s the whole Barbarians spirit and I\u2019m sure they will do all of those things this week \u2013 when you go onto the field\u2026 I remember playing for the golden oldies in Bermuda against New Zealand and it became such an intense game,\u201d he told reporters.<\/p>\n

Barbarians team: All Blacks hero to captain historic side v Springboks as Scott Robertson names strong starting XV<\/a><\/p>\n

Erasmus did admit that it will be a significant challenge for the Baa-Baas to get up to speed quickly, but believes that Robertson<\/a> and Felipe Contepomi will have them well prepared.<\/p>\n

Scott Robertson influence<\/p>\n

It is the New Zealander\u2019s first coaching role since being unceremoniously sacked as All Blacks in January.<\/p>\n

The 51-year-old was dumped despite having a 74 per cent win record, which is better than every person to lead the Springboks in the professional era apart from Erasmus, who only just edges him on 75 per cent.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Barbarians game is the same every time. Yes, it\u2019s going to be open, running rugby and flamboyant, and the weird things that they will do, but most of the players that are normally picked for the Barbarians, you can\u2019t coach a lot of things into them,\u201d the current Boks head honcho said.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo get defensive systems, lineout systems, mauling systems and those kind of things in place, [it\u2019s difficult].<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re great coaches, we all know they\u2019re great coaches. If you compare Razor\u2019s winning record with the South African coaches in the past, it would probably be second or third, so you see he\u2019s a great coach. He\u2019s got a great win percentage.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith Contepomi, he\u2019s a really good guy and the way they\u2019re going to put the team together, they want to win this game, which is awesome.<\/p>\n

\u201cThose players will be hell of competitors and they will take it personally. One bad game where you do some stupid things and your reputation is gone, and none of those guys [will do that]. They\u2019re all proud enough and the coaches are awesome guys.<\/p>\n

\u201cI guess we\u2019re in for a big one.\u201d<\/p>\n

READ MORE: Rassie Erasmus explains shock selection which has led to Springboks \u2018opportunity\u2019 and new Cheslin Kolbe role<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Springboks boss Rassie Erasmus is expecting a stern challenge from the Scott Robertson-coached Barbarians when the teams clash…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":483409,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[164936,1463,1464,111,43,139,69,1468,16345,1466,213],"class_list":["post-483408","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-barbarians","tag-home-page","tag-internationals","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-rassie-erasmus","tag-scott-robertson","tag-south-africa","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/483408","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=483408"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/483408\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/483409"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=483408"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=483408"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=483408"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}