Rassie Compliments World Rugby’s Shape Of The Game Summit
Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus opened up about the South African contingent’s experience at World Rugby’s Shape of the Game summit in London, where they received certain assurances and were admittedly surprised by the feedback.
Erasmus, who was previously banned from attending the summit, was part of a group comprising SA Rugby CEO Rian Oberholzer, national law advisor Jaco Peyper, and assistant coach Felix Jones.
“I am very happy that we went along with Felix (Jones), Jaco Peyper, and Rian (Oberholzer),” said Erasmus.
“I was going, but then I got banned, and this is the first time I went since the ban.”
“Sometimes you can become out of touch with World Rugby by just virtual calls and emails. You want to look at a guy eye-to-eye, and I feel that happened over the last couple of days.”
The gathering saw around 200 key figures in the game discuss the future of the sport from all aspects on the field and off it.
Erasmus seemed impressed following his appearance as an observer.
“The way it is structured allows us to observe and provide input, and the nice thing is that the committee who are responsible for making the decisions is always there. I am satisfied that we gave our opinion and World Rugby is making the decisions,” Erasmus added.
“You definitely cannot miss this meeting before a World Cup year, and if you do, you must deal with the consequences. I am not fond of giving compliments to World Rugby, but this is definitely well run,” admitted Erasmus.
Erasmus explained that World Rugby were bemused at South Africa’s thinking that they were being penalised at the scrum because the opposition was weaker at the skillset.
“People think a team gets penalised because they are not strong enough. That’s not the truth. It’s because while you’re getting pushed back, you fall,” he explained.
“A team can allow another team to push them back for seventy metres; they must just not fall. That was something that was cleared up at the meeting.”
With talk about Australia and New Zealand wanting rule changes that would quicken the pace of the game at the expense of scrums and mauls – cornerstones of rugby union – Erasmus seemed happy that those aspects of the game were safe until the 2027 World Cup at least.
SA Rugby CEO Rian Oberholzer also weighed in on the matter.
“The narrative was that they wanted to depower the scrum and we were all made aware of that in the run-up to the conference,” said Oberholzer.
“What was agreed was that the contest of rugby remains one of the important aspects of the game and that starts with the scrum, the maul, the ruck, and the kick, and that will not change, definitely not before the 2027 World Cup,” added the CEO.
“World Rugby came out with a statement that there is nothing wrong with the way we’re playing the game. There is no need for dramatic changes to the game and the way we approach the game. It is still a game for all shapes and sizes; it is still a game where the contest is important, so I think we had a good week.”
