Eddie Jones has warned that Rassie Erasmus could do a Jose Mourinho to get into Twickenham and deliver South Africa’s team talk.
The World Cup-winning coach is banned from Saturday's game for publishing a series of sarcastic tweets criticising officials this autumn.
Asked how he thought Erasmus’ absence would affect the Springboks, Jones said: “He might come in a laundry box! That's been done before hasn't it? Usually the Tottenham manager. I'm sure Rassie will get in somehow.”
In fact it was Chelsea that Mourinho was managing in 2005 when he claimed to have hidden in a laundry basket to get round a two-match ban.
According to the Special One, he sneaked into the dressing room hours before a Champions League quarter-final against Bayern Munich in order to greet his players when they arrived. He was then smuggled out in a basket by the kit man.
South Africa are not much in joking mood this week with Erasmus, their director of rugby, in hot water and head coach Jacques Nienaber complaining that his team feels disrespected.
Wing legend Bryan Habana admitted: “Given all the distractions, I can’t think it’s easy being a South African rugby player at the moment”.
Former captain John Smit believes Erasmus' behaviour has made the Springboks "so easy to dislike” whilst ex-coach Nick Mallett reckons it has led to refs being harsher on the Boks.
Habana agrees that Erasmus’ tweets are not making the referee and the officials’ decisions any easier. "Is there a place for it in the game? Probably not,” he said. “There are correct channels.”
But the Boks try-machine said the criticism needed to be seen in the context of the “massive amount of frustration” felt in South Africa since the Lions tour over a “lack of transparency and communication” on all sides.
“I don’t feel the referees and officials are out to get SA Rugby or the Springboks or to make the Springboks lose,” he said.
“But as a player, as a coach where your job is on the line, when decisions go against you and you don’t understand why or they’re incorrect and the explanation for those incorrect decisions aren’t appropriately explained, it becomes a little bit difficult to understand.”
Jones refused to get drawn into a war of words with Erasmus, yet with his next breath said respect of referees should be sacrosanct - and had been for him since he was fined Aus$10,000 in 2007 for criticising one.
“I’m not perfect,” he said. “I’ve said things that probably haven’t been right, but the longer I’ve coached the more I accept we’ve got to look after the referees.”
Bryan Habana is an ambassador of Sage - the Official Insights Partner of Six Nations Rugby and the Autumn Nations Series. #SageInsights
