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Rassie Erasmus is expecting a fair share of mind games and an improved performance from the Wallabies when he’s reunited with Eddie Jones in Pretoria.
Jones kicks off his second stint as Wallabies coach with a Rugby Championship visit to Loftus Versfeld on Sunday week.
Erasmus – the Boks’ coaching director – and Jones were both assistants to Jake White for South Africa’s triumphant 2007 RWC campaign.
“I was part of the Bok group before I moved to the Stormers, and Eddie came in,” Erasmus told reporters. “He knows South Africans very well and he’s worked so widely around the world to broaden his coaching vision.”
Erasmus says Jones is set to succeed where Kiwi Dave Rennie couldn’t with the Wallabies.
“I always feel that a South African working with South Africans will get the best out of South Africans and I think an Australian working with Australians will get the best out of them,” Erasmus said.
“It took Jacques (Nienaber) and me a while to get used to how things worked at Munster, how they operated and what was important and what wasn’t.
“Eddie knows the Aussie setup. He has been there. The interesting thing would be as to where his assistants worked because they’ll bring in different flavours to the party.”
Erasmus said Jones was already thinking out of the box ahead of the World Cup.
“Some of those centres and wingers that they have are bigger than flankers,” he said. “Eddie always plays one or two mind games because he’s the kind of guy who can do stuff like that.
“I think he’s got some rugby league guys in as well and he’s got a massive coaching staff, but because of his experience, he can get people aligned in a short space of time. He is the kind of guy who is not afraid of doing things like that.
“It’ll be one of Eddie’s challenges.”
The mind games already appear to be having some impact on head coach Nienaber, who appeared confused about Jones naming a 34-man squad with another training squad named at the same time.
(Photo by Clive Rose – World Rugby/World Rugby via Getty Images)
“It’s tough to prepare to face Australia because we’re not sure if they’ll play with an Eddie Jones or Dave Rennie mindset, so the key for us is to focus on ourselves,” said Nienaber.
“We have to be able to adapt to whatever they throw at us on the day.
“I’m not entirely sure how they (Australia) are working with their squads. I’ve seen they have two squads with different names, and that one squad will face us and the other remain behind. So everyone is gearing up for the Castle Lager Rugby Championship to build momentum before the World Cup.”
The Springboks have suffered a setback ahead of the Rugby Championship, opening the door to a return to the team for controversial star Elton Jantjies.
Handre Pollard is unlikely to play any part in the tournament due to his lingering calf injury, according to Rassie Erasmus.
“There is a bit of worry over whether Pollard will be able to play in the Rugby Championship,” Erasmus told reporters.
“It’s a calf injury which he re-injured while playing for Leicester. With a re-injury, we are always a bit nervous and that is the reason why we have Elton [Jantjies] here, so that Handre can fully recover and we don’t push him too early.”
The Springboks start their campaign on July 8 against Australia in Pretoria and Manie Libbock is the favourite to assume the No.10 jersey.
He was excellent for the Stormers in the URC this year, and topped the competition scoring charts for a second season running.
Libbock lacks experience at Test level, having made his debut off the bench against France in November and the Boks also have last year’s back up No.10 Damian Willemse in the mix, along with Jantjies.
He was kicked out of the Springboks last year after rumours emerged of an alleged affair with team dietician Zeenat Simjee.
South African media are tipping a potential return to the fold.
Wales coach Warren Gatland has revealed his players were put in hoods, drenched in water and, weirdly, subjected to sounds of crying babies during a World Cup training camp.
Gatland explained that he wanted to push his players out of their comfort zone with an army-style training routine in Cardiff.
“We went to the Green Mile with the army and it was a brilliant day but it wasn’t brutal,” he told the media.
“It was more from a psychological challenge that we put them through. They did some power endurance stuff, they were carrying logs uphill and then having to go into a pool.
“We were talking about putting them in uncomfortable positions, where it’s: ‘How do you bring your heart rate down? How do you get your composure back?’
(Photo by David Rogers/Getty Images)
“They did some stuff where we had them put in hoods, having water tipped over them when they weren’t expecting it. Babies crying, things going off, and it wasn’t a full day. We went there in the morning and finished about 1pm.
“The boys had a bit of lunch, we put some beers on – some had a beer and stayed there for about an hour and enjoyed each other’s company and had some laughs, had some photos with the guys, presented them with a jersey, it was a really good company that was a little bit different.
“[Coach] Huw Bennett organised it and he was worried about how it was going to go, a bit apprehensive about the day but all the feedback we got from the players was really positive.
“It was different and made them think about things from a different perspective, in terms of being in stressful situations, being in a game where you don’t expect things and how do you react to that.
“You make a mistake, you come under a huge amount of pressure, how do you get your composure back? Trying to relate to those situations. Yeah we’ve been working hard but every day is not brutal, I can promise you that.”
Join The Roar rugby editor Christy Doran, former Wallaby Matt Toomua and a cast of regular and special guests as they look at the biggest issues in the game on The Roar Rugby Podcast. If you’re looking for great odds on the next game check out Aussie bookmaker PlayUp. Chances are you’re about to lose. Set a deposit limit.