'Everyone is talking about the belief he brought back. The fight for the jersey is back. We have a lot of respect for that and also the squad he is building.'
Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus said the Wallabies will be out to honour their coach, Joe Schmidt, with an emphatic display in the Rugby Championship, adding that it is in their hands to win it all.
Erasmus expressed his own admiration for the outgoing coach, having worked with Schmidt during his time in Ireland.
Rassie: Wallabies are clicking
The Wallabies take on the Springboks in their first two Rugby Championship matches, first in Johannesburg this Saturday and then in Cape Town the following weekend.
Australia have not won at Ellis Park since 2009 but they are coming from an encouraging performance in their home series against the British & Irish Lions. They lost the series 2–1 but only due to a controversial refereeing decision in the dying minutes of the second game. The Wallabies won the final match emphatically, 22–12, and have spoken about carrying that momentum into the Rugby Championship.
Erasmus, who in a friendly wager with his fellow coaches thought the Wallabies would win the second Lions Test, was again full of praise for their resurgence in world rugby, after they came last in the last two Rugby Championships and failed to reach the World Cup quarter-finals for the first time in 2023.
“We are under no illusions that the moment you start clicking, start understanding each other and the real belief is there – it is not plastic belief – people don’t just talk it up but they play it up,” Erasmus said, after naming his squad for the first match.
“I think they are currently playing it up on the field. So I think this Rugby Championship is very open to all four teams.”
Still, the Springbok coach said it was hard to know the level an opposition team was at physically and mentally until they actually played them.
Springbok coach lauds work done by Schmidt
Erasmus applauded the work done by Schmidt, who will be replaced by Les Kiss next season.
He said that while coaching Munster from 2017 to 2019, he actually reported to Joe Schmidt, who was coaching Ireland at the time, because of the organisational structure in Irish rugby.
“Joe is a great coach. He is a very particular guy, a very detail-driven guy. He certainly knows what he wants.”
Erasmus said Schmidt would like to finish on a high, and the Wallabies have respect for him.
“Everyone is talking about the belief he brought back. The fight for the jersey is back. We have a lot of respect for that and also the squad he is building.”
