Rassie Erasmus to Ellis Park crowd: Keep quiet during the haka

Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus has one request of the fans who will pack into Ellis Park for Saturday’s first Test against the All Blacks — keep quiet during the New Zealand haka.

“We all know how big this is,” he told a press conference in Johannesburg on Monday. “I would love it if the people at Ellis Park … do the same as the guys in Cape Town where it’s quiet, where we hear the haka 100% because I think it’s something special.”

Erasmus said hooker Johan Grobbelaar and flank Elrigh Louw, whom he released to play for the Bulls on Saturday, had been moved by their experience against the Kiwis.

“Grobbies and Elrigh faced the haka for the first time … [for the Bulls] and they tell how lekker it was and how intense the game was and the small things that New Zealand do so well within the game that make the game work.”

Erasmus recalled watching the 1981 Bok tour of New Zealand and then the 1986 rebel Cavaliers series in South Africa, saying they had shaped him as a rugby player.

“When I grew up we watched the Cavalier series and the flour bomb [the third Test of the protest-hit 1981 series] … Those were the games where you knew the Murray Mexteds and Zinzan Brooke and those guys were our heroes as well.

“Danie Gerber was my hero, but also I wanted to play like Murray Mexted, also like Rob Louw.”

Erasmus, who named his teams for the Nations Championship matches against England, Scotland and Wales on the Monday before those Saturday Tests, would announce his squad only on Thursday.

“The announcement on Thursday is respect for New Zealand and knowing how tough this one is going to be.

“And this one specifically, we think the less time they have to prepare for our team, the better.”

The coach also pointed out that when he took over in 2018, the All Blacks were the best side in the world.

“They were always the team we aspired to be since 2018 when they were the team that was leading.

“We’re 100% sure that New Zealand’s going to get up there again, it’s just where they’re going to beat us. When are they going to beat us? Obviously they’re going to beat us again in future, hopefully not this weekend.”

Erasmus also said he rated New Zealand coach Dave Rennie highly, pointing out that they faced off when they were at Munster and Glasgow. Rennie also coached Australia in four matches against Erasmus’s Boks, winning three of them.

He expected the All Blacks to try surprise South Africa with some new tactics — just as the Springboks were planning for the All Blacks.

“They will be the same like us preparing for the first match…

“He will have made plans which he will not show in the franchise matches, and they will definitely not do exactly the same stuff that they did in the Nations Championship.

They won’t go away from the way they’re attacking. But they’ll have one or two great starter moves.

—  Rassie Eramus on the All Blacks

“And then we obviously kept Tony [Brown, Bok attack coach] back last week [when the squad travelled to Argentina].

“Tony worked with some guys who’s gonna be in the team this weekend and we’ve got some plans for this game … the guys staying back home obviously also worked on some new stuff.”

But Erasmus said the All Blacks weren’t going to stray too much from their basic pattern of running the ball and high intensity.

“They won’t go away from the way they’re attacking. But they’ll have one or two great starter moves,” he said, adding they were also strong at the breakdown.

“They are very focused, brutal at the breakdown. Them keeping the ball for so many phases and then putting a little grubber in — their attacking kicks are as dangerous as them keeping the ball in hand.

“How they sort you out at the breakdown is something that we really have been seeing,” he said.

The match will kick off at 5.10pm.

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