“We’ve got fucking 58 murders a day,” Rassie Erasmus told his South Africa players in the Tokyo dressing room in 2019. “Women get raped every day. These guys have got 120 million people and they’re one of the richest countries in the world. It’s pissing me off that they think this gives them the right. These guys do it because they want to grow the game of rugby. We want to do it because we want to save our fucking country.”
Really, you have to marvel at the kind of oratorical flourish that manages to cast Japan – perhaps the most adored team to take the field in a Rugby World Cup – as the villains in their home tournament. But then this has always been one of the curious gifts of Erasmus, the coach who led the Springboks to glory four years ago and who now, as director of rugby, remains the power behind Jacques Nienaber’s throne.
