The English media took aim at SA Rugby Director of Rugby, Rassie Erasmus, during the Springboks team announcement press conference on Tuesday afternoon, with head coach Jacques Nienaber given a stern examination during the session.
Nienaber was asked a number of tough questions on the matter that saw Erasmus receive his latest ban, including whether it had affected the mood in the camp or the preparations for the week.
Nienaber quizzed
“In terms of Rassie’s ban from our side we are focused on rugby. There will probably be a lot of questions about the ban, but for me as a coach, I don’t want to go into those things. But we are a tight knit unit and everyone knows what is going on. We are open and transparent to everybody in the group,” explained Nienaber.
“For us who know all the facts it is sometimes disappointing when there are only certain facts that go out and then people, who don’t have the full story, form an opinion on these things. So that is quite sad, because if all the facts were out there I think people would form a different opinion.
“It is unfortunate that things have gone this way, but the main thing for us is to focus on rugby and make sure that we prepare the players mentally for a big Test against England on Saturday.”
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Nienaber was then quizzed on what facts the public are missing.
“I think it will come out. You know there is a lot of confidential stuff that we aren’t allowed to talk about with the media. I am not the only coach to say that, Eddie (Jones) has said it before, there is stuff that we can’t discuss, so unfortunately it is what it is,” said Nienaber.
“But we know the facts and we share it with everyone within the group. But obviously there will only be a certain amount of facts that do go out.”
‘Can’t control the narrative’
Nienaber was then asked whether he was concerned about the Springboks’ reputation suffering because of the saga.
“We know what happens in our team. We can’t control the narrative of other people’s opinion of us, so whatever people think about us, is what they think about us. That’s all we can control,” admitted Nienaber.
Springbok media manager Zeena Isaacs then stepped in saying that it was a team announcement press conference and not a Rassie press conference, and asked the journalists to refrain from asking any more on the matter, but Nienaber was still asked how different it was without Erasmus.
Normal weekdays
“During the week Rassie is with us as per normal, it’s just that he is banned from match days. So the role and responsibilities that he fulfils in match days we just observe within us like we did for a year,” explained Nienaber
Towards the end of the press conference Nienaber was asked if he supported the Director of Rugby putting videos out on social media so people could understand what’s going on in the game, with Isaacs stepping in again to tell Nienaber not to answer that question.
