Erasmus, the springbok coach, is in the hospital following a “freak accident.”
SA Rugby said on Saturday that South Africa’s director of rugby, Rassie Erasmus, has been admitted to the hospital following a strange accident that resulted in burns.
According to a statement from SA Rugby, Erasmus “is recovering in hospital following a medical procedure for chemical burns sustained in a freak accident using a powerful detergent product.”Other than that, he is healthy and plans to resume full-time employment in a few weeks.
Erasmus, a 51-year-old former back-rower for the Springboks who played all the way to the 1999 World Cup semi-final, was the driving force behind South Africa’s two World Cup victories in 2019 and 2023.
After Jacques Nienaber left as head coach in November of last year, Erasmus took over as head coach once more. Before and during the 2019 World Cup, he also served as rugby’s director in addition to his position as head coach.
After winning their initial games against Canada and Spain, the Blitzboks are in fantastic form going into their last group encounter on Saturday against Argentina.
With victories against Spain and Canada on the first day of the competition in Australia, the Blitzboks secured their spot in the next round before of their last group match on Saturday morning against Argentina.
Although they were pushed hard in both games, the South Africans put up a strong fight and won 24-7 against Canada and 21-14 against Spain to carry a lot of momentum into the second day of play.
The Blitzboks were penalized for their poor start against Canada when the North Americans scored the first try, but skipper Selvyn Davids and Quewin Nortje’s unconverted touchdowns gave them a 10-7 advantage at the break.
The Blitzboks then took control of the second half as Davids scored his second and rookie Tristan Leyds scored a long-range goal soon after entering the field to secure an easy victory in the end.
Similar to the previous game, the second one saw the Blitzboks taken aback by an early touchdown from Spain before tries from Ronald Brown and Nortje gave them a 14-7 advantage at halftime.
After Spain battled to the very end and responded with a late consolation goal to conclude the contest, Davids extended the Blitzboks’ lead in the second half.
SA ladies
The South African women’s team is also competing in Perth, although they lost both of their opening-day matches—31-0 to Australia, the hosts, and 24-7 against Canada.It was always going to be difficult for them to play their home patch against the world’s top women’s sevens side, but they performed well to contain them.
They may, however, look back on their second game against Canada with sorrow because they gave themselves a decent opportunity to win.
In the match, the South African women had a strong start, but they were turned over on Canada’s 5m, which allowed them to go across field and take the lead. Later, the South Africans had a late opportunity to tie the game, but they came up short as the North Americans led 7-0 at the half.
With three minutes remaining, Zintle Mpupha’s converted score for the South African women tied the score at seven points, denying Canada an early lead in the second half. However, Canada closed out the game with a strong finish to secure the victory.