Cape Town – It is seldom that you see the Springbok fraternity criticise each other, but in his unique way, Rassie Erasmus responded in typical fashion this week.
Former Bok lock Schalk Burger Senior, father of ex-flank Schalk Junior, waded into Jacques Nienaber’s team after they went down 13-12 to Wales in Bloemfontein on Saturday.
It was the first time that the Boks had lost to the Welsh in South Africa, and Nienaber’s gamble of picking a ‘B team’ had backfired after he made 14 changes to the side that had won the first Test 32-29 at Loftus Versfeld.
But the coach had explained that it was about exploring depth and rewarding in-form players for their outstanding performances in the United Rugby Championship.
Nienaber recalled most of the players from the first Test for the series decider at Cape Town Stadium on Saturday (5.05pm kickoff), making 11 changes on Tuesday. The only survivors from the Free State Stadium were Handre Pollard, Jaden Hendrikse, Pieter-Steph du Toit and Eben Etzebeth.
Schalk Burger Senior, though, expressed his unhappiness on Twitter last Saturday: “If you listen to the Coach, the Captain and the Director of Rugby of SA Rugby and you see how they perform, then you know somewhere there is either showboating or we are much weaker than we think we are - no structure, coaching or game skills sad to say - RWC only a year away.”
But on Tuesday night, Erasmus replied with a simple one-liner: “Noted Oom Schalk thanks for your opinion it counts a lot”, adding a thumbs-up at the end.
Noted Oom Schalk thanks for your opinion it counts a lot 👍 https://t.co/o8A05uXgly
Schalk Burger Senior went on to suggest that the Springboks have disrespected their Welsh opposition.
Rassie, SARU, your employer, does not recognise Springboks pre 1992, when amateurs played for the sake of ethos tradition and country during trying times, winning made us an adored team, we respected countries, teams and players, we all subscribed to building tradition not caps! https://t.co/xBGvPY6GSW
— Schalk Burger Snr not Schalk jnr (@skalabrak) July 13, 2022
Erasmus received support from fans in the comments and his post was liked by new Bok cap Deon Fourie, as well as England prop Joe Marler.
But the only way the Springboks can really silence the critics is by producing a convincing performance on Saturday and winning the series.
IOL Sport