Former France hooker Benjamin Kayser has said Rassie Erasmus “managed to throw a punch” with his late front-row switch before the Springboks lost 21-19 to France, but insists the French did not care.
The Springboks named Ox Nché, Malcolm Marx and Wilco Louw as their starting front row on Monday. About an hour before kick-off at the Stade de France on Friday, the bench trio of Jan-Hendrik Wessels, Gerhard Steenekamp and Thomas du Toit started instead.
Kayser discussed the switch on The Good, The Bad & The Rugby the following morning, with host Alex Payne.
READ MORE: Rassie Erasmus: front-row switch had ‘an eye on the World Cup’
‘A boxing match’
France head coach Fabien Galthié had said, Kayser recalled, that neither he nor Erasmus would be playing. Kayser was not so sure.
“It’s almost that weigh-in, you know, moment of a boxing match where every psychological point has to be scored when you look at the opposition in the eyes,” he said.
“Rassie is not far from playing, because even 63 minutes before the game, he still managed to throw a punch.”
‘Bryan called it’
Kayser said the change made no difference to France, and that the only thing France would have taken from it was that “there’s a serious line-up coming off the bench very, very soon”.
“I don’t think the French team cared … And actually Bryan called it,” he said. “He was like, ‘Look, he’s going to do that. He’s going to put them on before half-time.’ And he was right. I think they came on at 35th or 36th minute or something like that.”
Kayser added: “Did you see Wilco Louw walking on? It’s ridiculous. He should not be allowed to play rugby, this dude. He’s a piano. I mean, so big.”
Habana, the former Springboks wing, had been alongside Kayser in the ITV studio. Kayser admitted he was pleased to see Marx start on the bench.
“That’s good news. I don’t want to see Malcolm Marx on the pitch too long. He’s so good,” he said.
Marx scored a late try, but Manie Libbok’s conversion missed and France held on.
‘Mind games with the media’
Payne raised a report in The Times on the rules that allow such late changes. Erasmus had made a similar switch before the 33-26 win over the All Blacks in Cape Town on 29 August, when he started a front row picked from his replacements.
Kayser said the constant changes had caused more trouble for the broadcasters than for France.
“It’s also mind games with the media,” Kayser said, half-joking. “Maybe he’s just having a dig at us, you know … try to mess up our work because he doesn’t like us … But I don’t think there’s anything in it.”
Payne asked whether rugby should copy football, naming a 23 on the Thursday and the starting XV an hour before kick-off. Kayser said it would make little difference to the players: “I don’t think for teams it changes much.”
Erasmus said after the game that the switch was made with “a little bit of an eye on the World Cup”, and admitted it did not work because the Springboks lost. They face Ireland in Dublin next.
READ MORE: Springboks Player Ratings vs France: An 8 For Pieter-Steph du Toit
Watch Benjamin Kayser on The Good, The Bad & The Rugby:
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