Legendary All Blacks head coach Sir Graham Henry has hailed Rassie Erasmus, who has turned the Springboks into a “very, very good side”.
Now serving as a selector under Dave Rennie, Henry got a close look at the back-to-back World Cup-winning Boks during Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry series and has sung Erasmus’ praises.
After going 1-0 down with a defeat at Ellis Park in the opening Test match of the series, South Africa bounced back to win the remaining three games.
However, the Springboks were brought back down to earth in their next fixture as they fell to a defeat to the Wallabies in Perth, suffering a 42-38 loss in Western Australia.
Rassie Erasmus is willing to lose
This came after Erasmus made wholesale changes to his starting XV, making 10 in total and handing Andre Esterhuizen the captaincy. Henry has hailed the Springboks head coach for his willingness to risk defeat in order to build squad depth and expose players to the demands of international rugby.
“Oh, for sure. I think he’s got it well sorted,” the former All Blacks boss replied when asked by Martin Devlin on DSPN whether he admired Erasmus.
“He has got rotation; we used to have rotation, so he’s got a lot of depth. He’s prepared to play players and give them confidence; that’s very important. It’s all very well picking a squad of 36 players to go on a tour, but if one or two don’t play, how are they going to feel at the end of the tour?
“So, he has rotated; he has got three or four players in each position. Some of them have come through and become superstars. When it comes to the big crunch games like the All Blacks games, he puts his number one team on the park. He is prepared to lose. He lost to the Wallabies in Perth; it wasn’t his A-team, and they lost, but he shrugged his shoulders and got on with it. Still the best in the world.”
He takes risks
Pressed on what he meant by Erasmus being prepared to lose, Henry clarified: “Well, he’s prepared to take risks through his selection.
“I think the Wallabies played very well in that Test match and they won the aerial battle, and they played tactically very well. I was expecting them to play exceptionally well against the All Blacks, and they’ll be a bit disappointed because they are better than that.
“Rassie put in the team to play the Wallabies in Perth. He thought they’d be good enough, but they weren’t there on the day.”
During the extensive interview, Henry spoke highly of the Springboks and Erasmus, adding: “They are well coached and good people and hugely motivated; they’re the hope of their nation: a diverse group of young guys playing together, being the best in the world in a country that is frankly struggling socially and financially. I’ve only got total respect for them.”
All Blacks won’t copy South Africa’s template
South Africa’s work at the set-piece was crucial to their success over the All Blacks in the latter three Test matches but Henry says that New Zealand won’t be modeling their game around set-piece dominance.
He admits that improvements are certainly needed but explained that isn’t part of the All Blacks’ DNA, but added that it is part of the “goal” that the set-pieces become a weapon for New Zealand.
“Well, we won’t play that sort of style of rugby because that’s not our DNA; we will play what you’ve been seeing in the Wallabies’ Test in the Bledisloe Cup and try to perfect that,” he said.
“But if we can be more dominant at scrum time, have a very secure lineout, and it gives us front-foot ball, and we strike well, we’ll be pretty hard to beat. Obviously, that defence too.”
Henry also likened the current Springboks team to the side that Sir Steve Hansen inherited in 2012 and led to World Cup glory in England.
“They’ve got a lot of players who have played in two winning Rugby World Cups, and they’ve been together for a long time,” he said.
“I know what that’s like. It’s like our 2015 side. It’s the same in South Africa; they’ve grown up together, they are like brothers, they’ve got each other’s backs, but they’ve gone through massive experiences together.
“As I said, they’re highly motivated because they realise that they are the role models for the nation.”