RASSIE ERASMUS TODAY laughed off Simon Zebo’s remarks on a podcast in which he said the South Africa boss ‘hates the Irish’ and revealed the former Munster back contacted him both to apologise and clarify his intent.
Zebo appeared on the Kick Offs and Kick Ons podcast earlier this month, during which he was asked about Damian de Allende’s suggestion that the Irish media have lacked respect for the back-to-back world champions since their 38-3 drubbing at the hands of Ireland in November 2017.
“To be fair to his (De Allende’s) point, I think the media did get a bit out of control here with the hopes and expectations,” Zebo said.
He added: “Rassie hates the Irish. He really, really doesn’t like us, which is quite funny. It will build up even more and it drip feeds into the players.
“It’s mainly the Irish media’s fault — based in Dublin I think, not the Irish media down here where I am (in Munster).”
Erasmus was asked about Zebo’s headline-grabbing remarks at a Springbok press conference on Wednesday afternoon and revealed that the 35-cap former Ireland international messaged him in the immediate aftermath offering to publicly clarify their context.
The Boks boss declined that proposition, however, believing Zebo’s comments to be both tongue-in-cheek and suitably inflammatory ahead of a grudge test series.
“He messaged me,” Erasmus said of Zebo. “People who know Simon Zebo would know he’s a joker, y’know? Every chance he gets, he makes a joke or a crack here or there. And he immediately messaged me and he goes, ‘Listen, that came out totally wrong, they totally didn’t understand what I was trying to say.’
He apologised and said must he go back on air and rectify it. I said, ‘No, no. It spiced it up. Let’s keep it that way.’
Erasmus, who named a 39-man South Africa squad for the Ireland series on Tuesday, also confirmed that Siya Kolisi will captain the Springboks this summer despite previously stating his preference that the national-team captain would play his club rugby on home soil.
Kolisi, who joined Racing from the Sharks last season, was recently slammed by the French club’s president Jacky Lorenzetti after their Top 14 quarter-final defeat to Bordeaux Bègles.
A day after Racing’s 31-17 defeat, Lorenzetti told Rugbyrama of double World Cup-winning captain Kolisi: “He put on a few kilos, lost his form and yesterday he was transparent (invisible).”
Erasmus chuckled as he today responded:
Siya will be captain and Siya will play six-flank and Siya’s got no injury and Siya’s not fat… And Siya’s not transparent.
The Boks head coach also revealed that flying Bulls wing Canan Moodie, initially thought to be ruled out of July’s series with Ireland, “will be ready for the Irish second test”.
On the burgeoning rivalry between his double world champions and the back-to-back Six Nations winners, Erasmus claimed the recent on-field history between the sides renders the Springboks underdogs for next month’s two-match visit from Andy Farrell’s side.
“If there’s one team that’s certainly got the upper hand, it just shows on paper that since 2016… [South Africa haven't beaten Ireland].
“I never want to make us the underdogs and we don’t want to be the underdogs but the stats are there: we haven’t beaten them since 2016.”
