Rassie Erasmus says Springboks ‘arrogance’ led to Wallabies humbling. He’s learned his lesson
They may have just staggered out of a brutal four-Test series against the All Blacks, but Springboks coach Rassie Erasmus says memories of the belting they were dealt by the Wallabies in Johannesburg last year, and a broader track record of struggle against Australia, will ensure he deploys his strongest side possible in Perth next week.
The Boks have spent the week resting up in Terrigal on the Central Coast after flying in from Baltimore, where they downed New Zealand in the fourth Test of the Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry (RGR) series to secure an emphatic 3-1 victory.
South Africa are using the Central Coast as a training base ahead of the Rugby World Cup in Australia next year, where the world No.1 Boks will be heavy favourites to win an historic third straight Webb Ellis Cup. As part of their preparations, South Africa and Fiji announced on Friday they’ll play a pre-World Cup friendly at Polytec Stadium in Gosford on Saturday, September 18, 2027.
But the immediate attention of Erasmus and the Boks is firmly on the Wallabies, who they will meet at Optus Stadium in Perth on Sunday week. The RGR tour meant the usual Rugby Championship was scrapped, but both South Africa and New Zealand agreed to still play the Wallabies this year.
Australia will be hoping both those sides are battered and bruised from their intense Test series, and while Erasmus confirmed his players were tired, he said plans had been made throughout the year to ensure they could deploy as fresh a team as possible in Perth.
“Anybody who plays four games against New Zealand will be a little bit punch-drunk at the end,” he said. “That’s why prior to the New Zealand series we had the Nations Championship games, we really rotated a lot. And in the Argentinian game we had to gamble a little bit, keeping players behind and we almost lost that match.
“We’ll mix and match a little to make sure we’ve got a fresh-ish team, but obviously we’ll have to have enough experience also. I don’t think we’ll gamble too much against Australia.”
Erasmus said he had been impressed with the Wallabies in Les Kiss’ first four games against Japan and Argentina, but the obvious reminder for all players and coaches as far as not taking Australia lightly is the incredible scenes at Ellis Park in Johannesburg in August last year.
Having fallen behind 22-0, the Wallabies rallied and scored 38 unanswered points to win the Test 38-22; the first Australian win in Johannesburg since 1963.
“And it was at altitude, and they only flew in that week,” Erasmus said. “There was a little bit of arrogance from our side, being 22 up, and thinking, ‘It’s easy, boys, now’. I wouldn’t say it was disrespect, but I would say, stupidly, we thought, ‘OK, now we just can play this bloody loose game against Australia’.
“And they held it, and [Max] Jorgensen and those guys cut us to pieces. They could have even given us more points in that game. They smashed us, and the next game in Cape Town we only beat them with seven points or something like that.”
Erasmus came under so much pressure after the Johannesburg loss that his mum even texted him to tell him she still loved him.
Erasmus tightened up the Boks’ gameplan to win in Cape Town, and his enviable depth – the Boks have a stated goal of having five players for every position – means he can roll out a comfortably Test-strength team in Perth even if he rests veterans like Jesse Kriel, Peter-Steph Du Toit and skipper Siya Kolisi.
But planning for the Wallabies is still a challenge for the mastermind Springbok coach, who is known for his in-depth analysis and innovative tactics. Erasmus said there was something about the Wallabies as an opponent that has always confounded him.
“We find them tremendously difficult to play against, I don’t know why,” Erasmus said. “I can’t say they’re more physical than other teams. Like, they’re definitely up there for physicality. But ever since I was a player, they’ve got big guys like [Owen] Finegan, now, is it [Tom] Hooper, they’re massive, but they’ve got these weird-built guys, with massive size.
“They’re tough, strong guys. I remember with Finegan, I never could work out, how do you tackle the guy?
“Ever since those days, I just find them intriguing, the Australians. You get a guy like [Joseph-Aukuso] Suaalii, who’s 22 and he just comes in and he’s a full-on player. You just find these players.”
Erasmus said even the fact the Wallabies could go several different way when it comes to replacing injured No.10 Carter Gordon added to the challenge.
“You just can’t say Australia play a certain way. That’s what’s tough for me, too, to analyse about them,” he said.
“We have immense respect for the Wallabies. You look at the track record, we struggle. The game in Adelaide where [Marika] Koroibete tackled [Makazole] Mapimpi in the corner. They got us that day also. We never think, ‘Oh, we have Australia’s measure’, no. That’s not in our minds. We don’t care about rankings or anything like that.”
Erasmus said he first met Kiss when the former North Sydney Bears winger did some defence coaching with the Springboks when he was still a player in 2001.
“And he brought the first defensive structures,” Erasmus said. “Of course we didn’t have defensive structures in those days, it was all about just attacking. So no, I know Les, we’re good friends, I know him from his Ulster days, so I know him well.“
News, results and expert analysis from the week in sport sent every Friday. Sign up for our Sport newsletter.
KioskNews shows a cleaned-up reading view extracted from the publisher’s page — the original always lives on their site, not ours.