DURBAN - Springboks Director of Rugby Rassie Erasmus has reacted on social media to an article on a rugby website that rubbishes the claim that the Boks are the best team in the world.
In response to an article by an Australian writer, who disparagingly says the Boks won the World Cup because of a fortuitous draw and have been ducking playing anybody ever since, Erasmus tweeted: “This always made sense to me. A lion doesn’t concern himself with the opinion of a sheep.”
Erasmus was clearly miffed by the article written by Ben Smith (not the former All Blacks fullback of the same name) and while his comment was a clever one, some will feel he should not have risen to the bait and dignified the article with a response.
In November 2018, Erasmus similarly made public his opinion when he felt the Boks had been wronged, after they had controversially lost 12-11 to England at Twickenham.
Towards the end of that match, with the Boks pushing for victory, England captain Owen Farrell slammed into Bok centre Andre Eserhuizen with a shoulder charge that looked illegal to everyone on the planet except Australian referee Angus Gardner.
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The next week, a video clip found its way on to social media of Erasmus “coaching” Esterhuizen on how to tackle high.
The clip was amusing and many felt it was “comic genius” while others thought it to be unusual behaviour for a coach, bordering on the immature.
This always made sense to me: A lion doesn't concern himself with the opinion of a sheep.
— Rassie Erasmus (@RassieRugby) May 10, 2021
Smiths’ article is seriously uncomplimentary to the Boks. He suggests that the Boks were less than courageous by not participating in last year’s Rugby Championship that was held in a bio bubble in Australia and featured the Wallabies, All Blacks and the Pumas.
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Smith feels that if the Argentineans could find a way to the Championship, why couldn’t the Boks?
IOL Sport