South African Rugby Union’s director of rugby Rassie Erasmus called out British and Irish Lions coach Warren Gatland earlier this week, but the Kiwi het net sy gat aan die Bok afgevee.
How I wish this column wasn’t already at the printers by the time the SA ‘A’ game kicked off against the Lions at Cape Town Stadium last night.
I’d imagine things got pretty heated between the four lines following the two coaches’ “exchange”.
For those of you who missed it, allow me to recap.
Erasmus, who took charge of the SA ‘A’ team for last night’s match had an online press conference at roughly the same time as his Lions counterpart.
Aan die een kant het Rassie gesoebat for an extra game for the manne in the Bok camp.
He wanted the SA ‘A’ team to replace the Stormers in their match against the Lions on Saturday because last week’s Test against Georgia was scrapped because of Covid-19.
Rassie said: “For me that will be the safest. We’ve been tested negative now two days in a row. We’re in a hard bubble, moving nowhere.
“The British and Irish squad is negative and my honest opinion is if they are going to play against a team like the Stormers or the Sharks, or we play against the Stormers or the Sharks to come in, the chances of infection is as good as we had when we played Georgia.
“Up until the Georgia Test we had one case, which was RG Snyman. And then after the Georgia Test we had eight in management alone, positive.
“The moment you bring outside teams in… it’s a very tough situation to control…
“In my opinion, if the two of us can play a SA ‘A’ game on Wednesday and another one on Saturday, I think medically, player welfare and also for the spectators, it would be wonderful to have two match-ups and mix teams and play twice.
“And I’m sure Warren [Gatland] and the guys wouldn’t be afraid or say no to that.
“If I could have my way it would be fantastic and I think the people would enjoy it.”
Asked if he was confident that it would happen, Erasmus added: “I’m going to beg until we find a really valid medical reason why that’s not the safest.
“I can’t see why that can’t be the safest option, where we all just have negative cases and are living in bubbles…
“I think that will give us the best preparation to be good competition for the Lions.
“And I’m sure Warren would want us to be at full strength and good match fitness before we play the first Test match.”
Not so fast, according to Gatland, who was was having none of it, and quoted as saying: “We won’t be playing them again on Saturday.”
Gatland later added of the strong side picked by South Africa for last night’s match: “I probably wasn’t expecting them to be as strong as they are. They’re obviously short of games. They feel like they’re underdone and they’ll need a hit-out or two.”
While on Tuesday, the Stormers camp was still preparing to face the Lions, while Boks assistant coach Mzwandile Stick said they would welcome any opposition at the weekend – just to get in a final game before next week’s start of the Test series.
At the time of writing SA Rugby had yet to confirm it, but the Bulls made their way to Cape Town to provide some opposition for Rassie.
As for Gatland, the battle lines were drawn. He made it clear that this series is not about just playing rugby. He wants to win.
The Lions want to beat the world champions and they will go into next week’s Test smelling blood and knowing the men in Green and Gold are slightly undercooked.
Maar daai is nie Gatland se worry nie.
Personally I felt the series needed some on-field spice to make it more interesting.
To have the two teams talking about Covid-19 and the current riots in South Africa, while they are gearing up for an event that takes place only once every 12 years, is not fun.
And while many would probably say that Gatland missed the opportunity to give the series a fifth “Test”, I actually want to applaud him for stirring the pot a bit.
Now, it’s game on.