Dave Rennie has responded with scepticism to the Springboks' rebuttal of claims that the world champions deliberately slow the game down, with the debate shaping the build-up to Saturday's opening Test at Ellis Park, where English referee Matthew Carley takes charge.
Erasmus brought Jaco Peyper — SA Rugby's law adviser and a former Test referee — to his Monday press conference specifically to address the narrative around game speed. Peyper pointed to the World Rugby Shape of the Game meeting held earlier this year, at which coaches and match officials reached agreement on key focus areas, as the basis for the Boks' position.
"That's basically the contract between referees and coaches to say, coach your players to play this way and we will try and referee this way," said Peyper. "Over the five games that we've played, we've not had one piece of feedback that we slow down the game."
Erasmus framed the accusations as overly technical, noting Peyper was better placed than any player to field such questions: "There's certainly been a narrative out there which I think is very technical around the speed of the game, the slowing down of the game, and Jaco is better able to answer those questions."
Rennie was unpersuaded. Citing a lineout against the Sharks that took 50 seconds to set, he drew a direct contrast with the franchise matches: "We found the Bulls had a much more positive mindset — there was a lot more ball in play. I'm anticipating the Springboks will feel the same way."
On a pre-match meeting with Carley to discuss time-wasting specifically — one of four key areas flagged in an email circulated by match officials last week — both head coaches agreed it was unnecessary. "Rassie didn't feel there was any need to meet and I feel the same way, to be honest," said Rennie. "We've had conversations via email and we've got a summary sent to us this morning, so we're pretty clear."
The All Blacks arrive at Ellis Park having beaten the Stormers, Sharks and Bulls on tour, with Rennie's expansive, high-tempo approach producing results since he replaced Scott Robertson following New Zealand's Nations Championship wins over France, Italy and Ireland.