Rassie Erasmus has said the Springboks made the wrong call by chasing scrum penalties against France, because “it’s tough in front of a crowd like this to keep on penalising the home team”.
The world champions lost 21-19 at the Stade de France on Friday night in the Nations Championship. Erasmus spoke at the post-match press conference with captain Siya Kolisi beside him.
He said he was not blaming Italian referee Andrea Piardi, and put the mistake on his own side.
Should the Springboks have kicked for the corner, or was Erasmus right to back his scrum? Tell us in the comments.
READ MORE: France vs South Africa match report and full stats: Les Bleus hold on 21-19
‘Just human’
Erasmus said the Boks had been wrong to expect a run of penalties at scrum time.
“Maybe one or two of the wrong decisions, maybe kicking for corner rather than expecting the referee to give four penalties in a row,” he said.
“You know, it’s tough in front of a crowd like this to keep on penalising the home team, and you might feel you have dominance there, but it’s just human not to keep on penalising if they’ve already got a card or two for that. So maybe a wrong decision by us there as well.”
France had three players sin-binned: Maxime Lucu, Aaron Grandidier-Nkanang and, after a run of Springboks scrum penalties, prop Régis Montagne. The Springboks had two cards of their own: a yellow for Lood de Jager, and a yellow for Jasper Wiese that was upgraded to a 20-minute red.
‘In the referee’s shoes’
Asked later about the scrum dominance at the end, Erasmus described what he thought goes through a referee’s head when a scrum collapses late in a close game.
“You must put you in the referee’s shoes there,” he said. “You know, he’s now given two yellow cards, he’s warned them, you know, he’s talked to them, he’s been really strict on them. Oh, now there’s a lot of people here. I can let this ball play out or make a technical call.
“That’s why I’m saying I’m not blaming the ref. I’m saying that’s where we must sometimes think what is going through the referee’s head. Maybe the call should have been let’s kick for touch and maul it rather, because it’s tough to give seven penalties in a row and another yellow card.”
Erasmus was imagining a referee’s thinking, not reporting anything Piardi said.
READ MORE: Springboks player ratings vs France: an 8 for Pieter-Steph du Toit
‘More on us’
He said it was not the first time the Boks had fallen into the trap.
“I’m not pointing fingers, I’m saying us made the wrong call there,” Erasmus said. “We did the same against New Zealand … We had scrum dominance in the 22 … and then we thought okay, here we get it now, and then we made a mistake and the pressure was released and New Zealand got the penalty there.”
He did not say which Test against the All Blacks he meant.
“So that’s more on us,” he said. “… It’s human for a ref to go, ‘Ah, let us play this one just out.'”
The Springboks face Ireland in Dublin next, with the Nations Championship finals weekend at Twickenham from 27 to 29 November.
READ MORE: Rassie Erasmus admits Springboks were ‘outsmarted’ by France
Watch Rassie Erasmus and Siya Kolisi’s full post-match press conference after France 21-19 South Africa:
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