Irish rugby legend fires shots at Rassie Erasmus ahead of Ireland v South Africa

Ireland face South Africa in their final Autumn International

Keith Wood played against Rassie Erasmus and was nearby in his native Killaloe during the South African’s time as Munster head coach.

The former Ireland captain has been impressed by some of his innovations but isn’t convinced all of them have value.

All the while making a very pertinent observation in that Erasmus doesn’t seem bothered by something that is overly exercising Irish minds – age.

People rarely highlight the Springboks’ age profile – this is a sign Ireland can keep their squad intact.

“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!”, reports the Irish Mirror.

“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 bullshit. 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 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!”

The sport needs to reconsider and protect its reputation as a game welcoming all body types and builds.

“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.

“You actually want people to be fitter and smaller. We’re happy to have big guys, but we want space. There’s a couple of guys that bely that, Will Skelton being one that can play 80 minutes, which means he’s truly extraordinary. But an awful lot of others can’t.

“I’m sure coaches would hate that.

“But you’re trying to have something that is affordable, so you’re talking fewer players, less match fees, and a whole variety of other things, maybe a couple fewer coaches, maybe smaller squads.

“It might take a period of time to do that. It might take a World Cup cycle to wean teams off 23 players down to 20.

“South Africa has big forwards that play really well and a good kicking n010. But, they are promoting speed and attacking wingers, smaller players, better than anyone else. I love watching them play.”

Speaking to Vision 4 Sport, a rugby hospitality company, Wood, who was part of Ireland’s squad, highlighted the often overlooked age profile of South Africa’s team. “The blooding has happened and will continue to happen. On the age profile, rarely does that get mentioned with South Africa, who are two times world champions in a row. A lot of those guys are on the far side of 30 which is extraordinary.

“They’ve managed those resources incredibly well. I don’t get it cut up about it. You have to be cognizant of it.

“Loyalty is a two-way street. If those players can do a job in the wider squad and you end up with two squads almost, and you can keep them all intact, I’m really good with that. I don’t want to get rid of people for the sake of it.”

He also pointed out how South Africa has built a robust squad by allowing their players to go overseas. “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.

“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.”

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