It was all eyes on South Africa today as they stormed to victory against Joe Schmidt's Australia 33-7 in the first round of the Rugby Championship.
With Joe Schmidt's honeymoon period well and truly over, it was a tough day for the former Ireland head coach's side, who were completely blindsided by a moment of genius from Rassie Erasmus.
This was a statement win from South Africa who quite literally ran riot Down Under this morning, going in at the break 21 points the better after Erasmus's trick play opened the Australian floodgates.
While the second half was more promising from the transitioning Australia squad, it still left a lot to be desired with the Springboks running in another two tries before the clock hit seventy. Schmidt's side finally responded in the 75th minute with an overlap try of their own, however, it only came after South Africa saw two players sent to the bin.
While their 33-7 win in Australia was impressive, their stunning lineout trick play stole the show, shocking rugby fans the world over.
The World Champions with the first try of the 2024 Rugby Championship 💥 pic.twitter.com/KMPKYCCm2m
— Sky Sports Rugby Union (@SkySportsRugby) August 10, 2024
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Rassie Erasmus reveals where stunning trick-play originated from
While Rassie Erasmus's antics with the Bomb Squad and his traffic light system have earned him a reputation as one of rugby's most innovative coaches, speaking to the media Erasmus revealed that today's tricks were less innovative and more so a throwback to his old-school playing days.
I love the old-school moves. We used to have those tap penalties where guys used to hide the ball under their jerseys but it’s nice when these old-school moves pay off.
We used that move way back when I was still playing when we didn’t have another lineout option and the one guy would throw to me and that’s how we could set up mauls and we just tried it and it worked. It’s great when something like that comes up and it works out.
Despite Erasmus usually getting the credit for South Africa's unorthodox yet successful way of approaching rugby, the try-scorer and Springbok captain Siya Kolisi revealed that the players aren't shy about presenting new ideas either.
We love the way Rassie thinks, he doesn’t think like everyone else and is always looking for different ways to make the team better, and what I love about the group is we are always willing to try something and we don’t say ‘Ah that’s not going to work’ and players come with plans and coach Rassie is like ‘Okay cool let’s try that’.
While today's win will leave Joe Schmidt with a lot of work to do, it cements the Springbok's place as tournament favourites in The Rugby Championship.
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