Rassie Erasmus has led the Springboks through another sensational season, which has seen the world champions rack up 10 wins from 12 Tests to date.
However, this weekend presents one of the greatest challenges of the year as the Springboks go up against a dangerous Ireland team in Dublin.
Ahead of that blockbuster clash, former Ireland captain Keith Wood has hailed the “phenomenal” rugby brain that Rassie Erasmus possesses, but he has questioned some of his innovations.
“I know Rassie, but not very well. We kind of collided with each other a bit when we played against each other. I got to meet him when he was in Munster. He plays the villain and at times he is the villain,” Wood commented when speaking with rugby hospitality provider Vision 4 Sport.
“He also deflects everything away from the team. He has built breakaway thinking from a lot of South African teams of the past. Yes, he has a huge pack of forwards, in fact he has two huge packs of forwards.
“I like some of the innovations; others are bullsh*t. He’s kind of pushing the laws. But I also think he has the ability, and this is where the innovation has been excellent, to identify players who can actually play in say four positions.
“That wouldn’t have been thought of before. It’s ideas like (Andre) Esterhuizen going into the back row at the weekend. I would like there to be only four or five subs in a game. And what Rassie has done is proven that actually is possible because you can get players that cover different positions.
“You have five subs and that makes it interesting. You’re also asking players to be fitter and able to last longer and not to have an expectation of going off.
“There is not a great amount of joy in a front row for 70 minutes or 50 minutes, then they bring on a whole new team when you’re just getting on top of them. I liken it to being in the eighth or ninth round of a boxing match and they just changed the boxer!
“Rassie’s thinking has been phenomenal in that multi-use of player. Within that thinking could be, in my view, the saving of the game.”
Rassie Erasmus has changed the game in South African rugby
After a period of unprecedented success, the Springboks are now virtually assured of once again finishing the year as the No 1-ranked side.
The squad under Erasmus has been carefully built around specific players, age profiles and also a mix between locally-based and overseas-based stars.
“To be honest I am not a huge fan of the number of subs that are there. But I would still say if you’re looking at what’s the method to try and win, it’s to try and have 30 players that are interchangeable,” Wood added.
“South Africa have actively done that, and they’ve done it in a different way from everybody else. They’ve done it by letting players go overseas and still picking them and managing them and using that as a really good model.
“It works when you have the number of players that are coming through the system like South Africa have. It wouldn’t really work for Ireland. We’d suffer quite heavily if our players all went overseas and we didn’t get to pick them.”
Boks ready for battle against Ireland
The Springboks’ Test against Ireland kicks off at 19:40 (SA time) and will be broadcast live and exclusively on SuperSport.
Erasmus is set to unveil his matchday squad for the second-to-last game of the year on Thursday.
