Rassie Erasmus is renowned for being an out-of-the-box coach.
We will never forget the disco lights and colour-coded boards at Free State Stadium in Bloemfontein when Erasmus was in charge of the Cheetahs.
And now that he is Springbok coach, that spirit hasn’t disappeared – although it’s not quite to the same extent.
Having already given an answer dripping with sarcasm in the wake of the controversial Owen Farrell tackle on André Esterhuizen on Saturday, where he said that he will just have to coach the Boks to tackle like that if it was deemed to be acceptable, Erasmus took it one step further on Monday.
After arriving in Paris for Saturday’s Test against France, the former Bok loose forward followed through on his promise to teach his players to tackle like Farrell.
In a video that has emerged on social media, Erasmus, along with defence coach Jacques Nienaber, lined up a tall tackle bag and asked Esterhuizen to take it down.
The first two attempts saw the Sharks No 12 carry out textbook tackles, but then Erasmus is seen gesturing to Esterhuizen to go higher, while also doing the same action as Farrell did when mowing down the Bok midfielder at Twickenham in what was a clear shoulder charge.
Australian referee Angus Gardner thought otherwise, and blew the final whistle for a 12-11 defeat for the Boks.
Esterhuizen got it right on the third attempt, burying his shoulder into the tackle bag and belatedly bringing half-an-arm around afterwards, which earned a round of applause from Erasmus!
This video doing the rounds. It would be quite ironic if Rassie and @Springboks got into trouble for this, but those at "fault" last Saturday got off Scott-free. Apologies, don't know who to credit. @IOLsport pic.twitter.com/749ZgApzPE
— Jacques vdWesthuyzen (@jacq_west) November 6, 2018
But now the question is: will the Boks be allowed to tackle like that against France on Saturday? The referee in charge is one of the best around, Nigel Owens of Wales.
Gardner, by the way, will be an assistant referee in the Ireland-Argentina clash in Dublin, with fellow Australian Nic Berry the man in the middle.
@ashfakmohamed