Former Ireland wing Andrew Trimble believes that rugby needs more characters like Rassie Erasmus after the Springboks found a unique way to communicate at the weekend.
South Africa opened the Rugby World Cup with a victory over Scotland, but there was plenty of discussion around how they achieved that success in Marseille.
Some of it centred on Jesse Kriel’s tackle on Jack Dempsey, but there was also plenty of talk on the ‘traffic light’ system.
Coach Felix Jones was seen holding up a coloured light from the coaches box during their 18-3 triumph on Sunday, which gave signals to the players.
It has once again divided opinion but Trimble was a big fan of South Africa’s ‘innovative’ approach to the game.
Different approach
“I like it, I think it’s great. It’s not AI, it’s not blockchain but it is Rassie Erasmus being Rassie Erasmus,” he said on Virgin Media Sport.
“He does different stuff and he gets a lot of attention for it. Sometimes he does that if he wants to disguise another narrative somewhere else.
“I think generally rugby needs more characters, story, innovation and it’s a subtle version of one of these, and it’s given us something to talk about.”
Another former Ireland back three player, Rob Kearney, believes that it could help take the pressure off the captain by making certain decisions for them.
“Having that decision taken away from you could be one less stress on the day. There’s a huge amount of merit to it, I just think that it is unusual that everyone is mic’d up, all the coaches are mic’d up. You could get a message that way as opposed to the traffic cone,” he said.
Alun Wyn Jones’ view
Test rugby’s most-capped player, Alun Wyn Jones, was also on the panel. He has plenty of captaincy experience and was undecided on whether the coloured light system would have helped Siya Kolisi.
“I think it’s process versus feel. I think it eliminates any questions afterwards, but if someone’s not going well off the tee that’s a separate question,” he said.
“Feel on the pitch is sometimes as good as the direction off it so it’s an interesting tact. But then again, don’t they say that genius and eccentricity goes hand in hand?
“I did comment that I wasn’t sure if he was landing planes at one point.”
READ MORE: Rassie Erasmus voices his view on controversial Springbok tackle against Scotland
The article ‘Not AI, not blockchain but it is Rassie Erasmus’ – Ex-Ireland internationals praise Springboks’ innovation appeared first on Planetrugby.com.
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