Last year’s World Cup group-stage defeat to Ireland and hearing their fans sing Zombie in Paris’ Stade de France really hurt coach Rassie Erasmus and the Springboks.
But the Bok mentor wants to flip the script when they face the Iere on Saturday, 5pm, at a sold-out Loftus Versfeld.
And in typical fashion, the Bok boss has taken to social media to spice things up, asking South African supporters to bring the gees in a battle of the fans.
🇿![CDATA[]]>🇦 The guys and ladies coming to Loftus, trust me it will be special! You will definitely hear and feel the passionate support of the Irish fans - its amazing from my experience!! But also cant wait for them to hear how passionate 🇿![CDATA[]]>🇦 fans are!! Its going to be a lekka day with… pic.twitter.com/zjcNK2dtqN
— Rassie Erasmus (@RassieRugby) June 30, 2024
Sharing a video of Irish supporters singing Zombie at Stade de France, Erasmus wrote on X: “The guys and ladies coming to Loftus, trust me it will be special! You will definitely hear and feel the passionate support of the Irish fans – its amazing from my experience!! (sic)
“But also can’t wait for them to hear how passionate our fans are!! Its going to be a lekka day with small margins between the teams! No doubt the fan rivalry will spice up the game!” (sic)
Come on @Springboks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! pic.twitter.com/vJEdW9KQBF
— Radioraps (Rikus de Beer) (@RadioRaps) July 1, 2024
Asked on Tuesday about that Irish loss, Erasmus says: “What made us sad was the fact that Ireland’s people can hop on to a flight and one hour later they have 40 000 fans [in the stadium], while our people had to go to malls or township shebeens or go and watch at someone’s house who has DStv. They had that absolute support – that’s what made us a little bit sad…”
🗣️ "This is a bitter one to swallow."
— SuperSport Rugby (@SSRugby) July 1, 2024
The scenes after Ireland beat the Springboks the last time they met at the Rugby World Cup..
Loftus is the setting for the first rematch 🌶️ pic.twitter.com/ltkQr2qa2h