South Africa's Rassie Erasmus is preparing to face an England team and head coach feeling the pressure after four defeats on the spin, and said the Springboks are at a disadvantage ahead of Saturday's game due to their six day turnaround.
The Springboks travel to Twickenham on Saturday to face an England team who lost against both the All Blacks and Australia in the final moments of the match. That means they have lost five of their last six Test matches. The Boks, in turn, are in a fine run of form, off the back of winning the Rugby Championship and beating Scotland 32-15 at Murrayfield last weekend.
Erasmus has made 12 changes from the team that faced Scotland last weekend, but is expecting a formidable England side lying in wait when the two meet at Twickenham on Saturday. He says he knows full well the pressure a losing run can put on a head coach.
"We have been on that side," Erasmus says. "Two or three years ago we lost three on the trot when Jacques was the coach and the next one was New Zealand. It was almost four on the trot. It depends on the men in the room, the management, depends on your CEO they can make you feel like you have got a gun against your head.
"You can try and create the environment and say 'we almost got the All Blacks, Australia last minute try, if we didn't sleep there it could have been two wins. If you put pressure on coaches it is not nice and you tend to make emotional decision. It think Steve is too smart to do that, sometimes you try to please them a bit but I don't think he is that kind of man. Hopefully the environment around is for him to believe in what he is doing."
Erasmus expects England to revert back to a kick-heavy approach, and also at his press conference on Thursday morning predicted England would start with Freddie Steward at fullback. Though his prediction wasn't quite at the level of the trick Erasmus pulled in the run-up to their World Cup semifinal last year where he named England's entire team, it was still a sign that he has planned to face an England team who are likely to play with an approach more similar to their 16-15 defeat to South Africa in Paris last year.
"When you lose two games, even if it's by a point or last minute try, the pressure does start to build," Erasmus said. "I've been there and I certainly now quickly that can get to you and then one normally falls back on to what works for you. I think they've been successful like that in the past, so we very much expect them to try and squeeze us with the kicking game."
-- Tom Hamilton: Inside the mind of Springboks maverick Rassie Erasmus
Erasmus says he picked the Springboks team three weeks ago as he planned for the short turnaround between their win over Scotland on Sunday, and their match against England the following Saturday. When asked how big a factor the six day turnaround is, Erasmus said: "Massive, it plays a massive role. You have two training days in which you must put in all of your departments, that is why we already picked the backline for England the previous week. Jesse [Kriel], Damian [De Allende], [Aphelele] Fassi, those guys on Thursday after they helped prepare the guys for Scotland they turned their attention to analysing England to be on par with England because they have a seven day turnaround. They have got a training day less and if you do have the same amount of training days you have got a recovery day less."
Regardless, Erasmus is expecting a response from England on Saturday. Borthwick's side lost 24-22 to New Zealand on Nov. 2 after George Ford's last-gasp penalty and drop-goal failed to land the right side of the posts, and England conceded an 83rd minute try to fall to Australia last Saturday.
"For me to comment on why another team doesn't finish in the last couple of minutes is difficult because I don't know their plans exactly and how they play and how they manage players," Erasmus said. "I do know they've got a big management staff and a very scientific way of looking at things. But you look at New Zealand, they had a trend like that four or five matches ago, but they seemed to turn that around and start winning matches in the last couple of minutes.
"I do know England play a really energy-sapping game, which will take a toll on our backline. But I think their rush defence will also take a toll on them, rushing up five meters, rushing back five meters, rushing up five meters, rushing back five meters. That certainly puts us under pressure but also if you can keep the ball that will certainly tire them a little bit. But then again we are also a team that have line speed, so it might be somewhere in there but I can't say with on conviction."