England must be ready for South Africa's 'dark arts'

England must be ready for South Africa’s ‘dark arts’ – Gatland،

Wales coach Warren Gatland says his England counterpart Steve Borthwick must be ready to counter the “dark arts” of South African director of rugby Rassie Erasmus ahead of the Cup semi-final of the world on Saturday.

Gatland, whose team was knocked out in the quarter-finals by Argentina last weekend, wrote in a Daily Telegraph article on Wednesday that England needed to compete with the reigning champions, both physically and mentally, at Paris.

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At a press conference on Tuesday, Erasmus responded to a question about which team he thought Borthwick would field by reading out a possible line-up and Gatland said it was an attempt to destabilize England .

“Rassie has already tried to take a mental advantage and sow seeds of doubt by naming what he thinks Borthwick’s team will be for the semi-finals,” Gatland wrote.

“To have a chance against the Springboks you not only have to try to match them physically, but also be tactically intelligent and show no signs of mental weakness.”

Gatland and Erasmus fell out during the British and Irish Lions’ 2021 tour of South Africa, where Erasmus acted as a “water boy”, running onto the pitch and passing on instructions while wearing a bib reserved for those which bring refreshments to the players.

This was later banned by World Rugby, with Gatland joking: “If he’s going to act like a water boy he should at least have water in his bottle.”

Gatland also wrote that he disliked South Africa’s “win-at-all-costs attitude where the ends justify the means” and suggested England ask questions “about the number of Head Injury Assessments (HIA) South Africa requested in victory over France. “.

Two players were examined by doctors at the insistence of Springbok coaches during the quarter-final victory over the hosts on Sunday.

When asked on Tuesday if he would ever use HIA regulations to rotate players and give them some rest during the match, Erasmus responded with a resounding “no”.