Rugby Union: South Africa coach Erasmus remains defiant in face of Jones' mind games

Rassie Erasmus, the South Africa head coach, has no intention of falling foul of the sort of Eddie Jones mind games that caused Australia’s Michael Cheika so much grief two years ago on England’s first three-Test series clean sweep over the Wallabies.

Erasmus has only just taken over the beleaguered Springboks but has already laid down a marker by naming three new caps in the side to face England at Ellis Park on Saturday and rejecting the notion that he might get caught out by any diversionary tactics from Jones.

“When do the mind games usually start?” asked Erasmus when it was put to him that Jones might launch a few verbal sallies his way.

“When you start trying to decipher and understand what his plan is with those things then that is exactly what he wants. I have seen it in other tournaments, and when England went to Australia but if you start to wonder why he is doing that, then he has been successful. If we ignore it, it won’t bother us.”

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Erasmus has plenty to occupy him as he looks to kick-start a side who have been in a slump since a third-placed finish at the 2015 World Cup, tumbling down the rankings to seventh.

The former Munster coach did not get off to the best of starts when a second-string side lost 22-20 to an under-strength Wales in Washington last weekend. None of those players feature in the side named to face England, although tighthead prop Wilco Louw might step in if Trevor Nyakane fails a fitness test on a rib injury.

As it stands, South Africa are fielding their first all-black front-row and will be led by their first black Test captain, Siya Kolisi.

It is an inexperienced team with two novices on the wings, S’Busiso Nkosi and Aphiwe Dyantyi, and a centre, Lukhanyo Am with only one cap. The total number of caps, 350, paints a distorted picture, given that prop, Tendai “The Beast” Mtawarira, has 98 of them. Wasps’ Willie le Roux is the old head in the back line as he wins his 42nd cap two years after his last appearance.

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Another emigre, Faf de Klerk, the Sale Sharks scrum-half, returns to Springbok colours for the first time since 2016.

Erasmus has instructed his team to play without fear. “We have to make brave calls and not be in crisis management or survival mode,” he said. “The players were so desperate to get the tactical thing right [against Wales] that the brilliance took backstage. We want the X-factor and points of difference to come through.”

Nkosi could be one of those who does manage to catch the eye. The 22-year-old Sharks wing said: “This is not a dream come true, it is the beginning of a dream come true. I want to be an excellent Springbok, not just play for them.”