Springbok coach says hy kyk verby Wallabies boss Wallabies mentor Joe Schmidt’s old school tricks ahead of Saturday’s 6.30am Rugby Championship Test in Brisbane.
In the build-up to this weekend’s Rugby Championship opening game Down Under, Schmidt wysed South Africa sometimes wen op geluk as referee calls tend to go the way of the back-to-back world champions.
He referenced the Boks’ 27-20 win against his former team Ireland in Pretoria, with a disallowed James Lowe try as an example of a gelukskoot that got South Africa the win in the first Test.
But Erasmus reckons the Wallaby coach’s sly potshot is aimed at putting pressure on Luke Pearce, the referee for Saturday’s contest, and tells the Daily Voice: “I think we won 13 out of our last 17 games and they [Australia] have now won four out of four. He [Schmidt] is a real old-school coach, is tough on discipline, and coaches his players well, but I think we all know why he said it.
“He thought he might put some pressure on referee Luke Pearce with talks of us usually getting the rub of the green but unfortunately that’s not true...
“It won’t work on someone like Luke Pearce – he is an experienced referee and he won’t fall for something like that.”
Meanwhile, Erasmus’ Boks want to make a winning start to this year’s competition at the Suncorp Stadium where wins against the Wallabies have been so skaars soos hoendertande.
Still, Saturday’s game is a great opportunity for the world champions to bag their first win in Brisbane since klapping Australia 38-12 in 2013, with the hosts busy rebuilding their team under Schmidt’s guidance.
Erasmus, however, kyk’ie die Wallabies vlak nie and wyses of how gevaarlik they can be with Schmidt at the helm: “He’s able to get the best out of a small crop of players like in his time [as Ireland coach], where he worked with 160 Irish players and made them one of the best teams in the world.
“I have huge respect for him and if there is one man that can put Australian rugby back on the map, he is the guy.”