Behind the scenes in Boks changing room – Faf is still box kicking
Faf de Klerk knows, although watch as he dribbles beer into the meat. Box kick it Faf.
What’s one of the first things you do when you win the #WebbEllisCup? Fill it up and drink from it.
It’s been 12 years but South Africa know how it’s done.
Rassie Erasmus on whether South Africa would have to wait another 12 years for the next world title: “When I took over two years/18 months ago it was 618 days to the World Cup and we planned to win it. It is now 614 days to the British and Irish Lions and we will start planning now. Lose the first test and people forget about the World Cup.”
CREDIT: World Rugby
On the planning for the World Cup:
“For us, we decided long before the Rugby Championship, we wouldn’t call it sacrifice, but we needed to be 20 weeks together to have a chance as we were so far behind the other teams.
“We saw it as a massive honour to try and win it. This is week 19 and week 20 was always the trophy tour in South Africa. We are proud. We know luck was involved and a lot of people said we would not make it but South Africans never give up.”
On the gameplan to dominate in the scrum:
“I don’t want to sound very clever afterwards because that pisses a lot of people off. It is a spin-off the way we have played the last five games, keep it tight especially in the six-day turnaround.”
On the World Cup campaign and how South Africa adapted:
“It was my first World Cup as a coach and the first All Blacks game was a great test ground for us handling pressure. We were terrible that week, we were tense and it was a terrible build up and that taught us how to handle the quarter-final and semi.
“In South Africa it (pressure) is not having a job, having a close relative who is murdered. Rugby should not create pressure, it should create hope. We have a privilege, not a burden.
“Hope is when you play well and people watch the game and have a nice brai (barbecue) and watch the game and no matter of political or religious difference for those 80 minutes, you agree when you usually disagree. That is our privilege and that was the way we tackled it.”
On how he came close to resigning:
“We had a lot of small targets where we tried to simulate matches, as there was only 18 test matches before the World Cup. Wellington (playing All Blacks) was like a quarter-final and let’s role play that.
“Then we lost to Australia and Argentina, and if we don’t win I will resign as I have never lost three games in a row as a coach and if I do that I don’t deserve being a Springbok coach.
“We played New Zealand in Wellington and that was important as if we would lose it I wouldn’t be here.”
On his captain Siya Kolisi:
“We had a good chat yesterday when we did the jersey presentation for the 50th test match. It is easy to talk about going through hard times and struggling to get opportunities but it is tough when there are days when you didn’t have food or couldn’t go to school or didn’t have shoes to wear.
“When you sit down and think about it, there was a stage when Siya didn’t have food to eat and, yes, that is the captain and he led South Africa to hold this Cup and that is what Siya is.”
