Rassie Erasmus accepts Aphelele Fassi’s act of foul play against Wales was “reckless but an accident”, during an otherwise pleasing effort from the Springbok fullback.
The four-Test Fassi, making his first appearance for the Boks since 2022, was sent off in the 30th minute of a huge win for the world champions at Twickenham on Saturday.
He was yellow-carded by referee Chris Busby, and survived a bunker review for possible upgrade to red, for his boot to the neck of Wales flanker Taine Plumtree while receiving a kick.
The dismissal was a blight on Fassi’s solid overall performance, and addressing the incident post-match, Erasmus told reporters: “Obviously it was an accident, but you can probably put it under the reckless banner and we have to live with that.
“If your technique is you go up and you put your foot in the air, then you might have a chance of hitting a guy in the head. If your technique isn’t like that … then you won’t hit the guy.
“Definitely if that happened with us, even though it was an accident and definitely not on purpose, it’s like a tackle where you go really hard and low but you hit a guy on the chin.
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“It’s unfortunately reckless because you put your foot there, so we’re not moaning about that one.”
The South Africans showed an eagerness to move the ball with quick, short passes between backs and forwards and it directly resulted in two of their five tries in a performance that offered promising evidence of an evolving gameplan.
Yet Fassi’s fearless play under the high ball, along with that of debutant Jordan Hendrikse, still bodes well for the Boks’ trusted kick-receipt blueprint going into the July series against Ireland.
“Jordan caught two [in the air] really well when we had the yellow card; obviously Stokke [Mzwandile Stick] is working hard with the guys for the aerial [battle],” Erasmus said. “We know when the Irish come that will be really important.
“If you talk about Cheslin [Kolbe], [Makazole] Mapimpi, Kurt-Lee [Arendse], Canan [Moodie], Willie [le Roux], I think over the last six years our back three and flyhalves who cover at the back are getting better. Handre [Pollard] is getting better in the air.
“Aphelele [on Saturday] in the air didn’t have a lot of contact going up but he was always higher than [his opponent] and caught the ball on the run, and when he went down he was on the run again.
“That’s really pleasing. There’s some other work for him to work on but that area [of his game] is definitely not a problem.”
Photo: David Rogers/Getty Images
The post Boks ‘not moaning’ about flying Fassi appeared first on SA Rugby magazine.
Src: sarugbymag.co.za
