San Francisco Frontiers - Erasmus' ingenuity sets South Africa apart from the rest

The 52-year-old led his back-to-back Rugby World Cup-winning outfit to a 32-17 win over Les Bleus, despite playing down a man for a whole half, with a centre covering at flanker.

On the back of winning the Rugby Championship, it was an all-round performance against the Six Nations champions that clearly marks out the Boks as the stand-out side in the game, well ahead of New Zealand, France and the rest - and Erasmus as the best game manager around.

During his Springbok tenure, the former Free State flanker, who won 37 international caps, has innovated with strokes of genius such as naming a bench with just one back and rolling mauls in open play.

Using Andre Esterhuizen in two different positions for 40 minutes each was another masterstroke.

Lock Lood de Jager's 40th minute red card forced Erasmus to react by bringing off iconic captain and back-rower Siya Kolisi on his 100th Test to make space for Esterhuizen to play a hybrid role.

"Our captain on his 100th match had to be taken off because we had to have Andre who can play loose forward and centre on the field," Erasmus told reporters.

"It was a tough call for the captain.

"When we said it to him he took it on the chin," the former Springbok flanker added.

- 'Contributed' -

In July, 31-year-old Esterhuizen, usually a centre for the club side Sharks, came off the bench against the Barbarians to feature among the Bok forwards for the first time.

The powerful midfielder did so again last weekend in the rout of Japan, before playing a crucial role at the Stade de France as the Boks fought back, having trailed by three points with 20 minutes to go.

It was his try in the 65th minute which rolled the game in South Africa's direction

Earlier this week, ex-Munster director of rugby Erasmus said the move to try Esterhuizen in a different position, making him more versatile was to give him a chance of playing more Tests.

"I'm still a centre, covering flank," Esterhuizen joked after the statement win in Paris.

"I was covering both when I came on.

"It was good, especially in a game like this where it was needed, it contributed quite a bit," he added.

In the opposite coaching box, France's Fabien Galthie made choices which simply backfired.

With 32 minutes to play he brought on five forwards, in an attempt to mimick Erasmus' 'Bomb Squad' tactic of introducing a host of forwards from the bench at once, which worked superbly at the 2019 World Cup triumph.

Sports newspaper L'Equipe gave Galthie's replacements an average rating of four out of 10 for their contributions.

"We gambled with our substitutions in the second half because their second-halves this season have been very good," Galthie said.

"They've built a strategy with second-halves that are powerful and efficient," he added.

The defeat marked a second time in 23 months for Erasmus to get one over his French counterpart, who had visited him while he was working with the Irish province between 2016 and 2017.

Two years ago, Erasmus beat Galthie's outfit at the Rugby World Cup, also at the Stade de France, with a simple, direct gameplan which included an accurate kicking game.

"They still have the same strengths, which they've developed even further," Galthie said.

"In those sectors, they performed better than us, once again.

"They're a great team," he added.

E.Cruz--SFF