Springboks coach Rassie Erasmus has responded to rumours he is “playing mind games” with the All Blacks on his X (former Twitter) account.

 

This comes amid him following the official account of the New Zealand team, who will play South Africa this weekend at Ellis Park.

The Boks will face their biggest rugby rivals in two home-ground matches on 31 August and 7 September.

RASSIE RESPONDS TO ‘MIND GAMES’ AGAINST ALL BLACKS
Over the weekend, Rassie Erasmus pulled his signature social media move by following the Springboks’ next opponents, the All Blacks. He also changed his header to a picture of the Web Ellis Trophy with the dates of the last two winning countries, South Africa and New Zealand.

Speaking at a media conference this week, Rassie responded to allegations that he is “trolling” the All Blacks on his social media account.

“No, it’s just interesting to me. It’s not mind games. Guys tweet stuff about their teams, and you see it and might learn something there. It is like getting the newspaper.

rassie erasmus, all blacks, jake white, springboks
Springboks coach Rassie Erasmus has pulled his signature social media move by following the team’s latest opponents. Image via X: @rassierugby
Rassie admitted that he made the move to “spy” on the team.

He added, “You look there and try to see what you can see. It’s really just nice to know what they are up to when they arrive.”

‘STUPID IF WE DON’T RESPECT THEM’
Rassie Erasmus added that he would go into this weekend’s match with awareness and respect for the Springboks’ opponent.

He said: “We’ll be stupid if we don’t respect them. We’ll be bad coaches, we’ll be stupid players, we’ll be an arrogant nation, and we’ll be put back in our place at number six or seven where we started.

Rassie added: “It’s a team that beat England at home. It’s a team that lost to Argentina. We’ve lost to Argentina. It’s a team we beat by one point in the World Cup.

“We’ve played the last ten times against them; one draw, four losses, and five wins for us.”