South Africa's Rassie Erasmus positive Eben Etzebeth and Jesse Kriel will face Ireland

There are availablity doubts over key lock Etzebeth who came off with a shoulder issue and Jesse Kriel with the Ireland clash fash approaching.

POSITIVE: South Africa director of rugby Rassie Erasmus before the 2023 Rugby World Cup Pool B match at the Stade de Marseille. Photo credit: Mike Egerton/PA Wire.

For four years now Rassie Erasmus has been sort of there and sort of not.

He handed over the coaching reins to Jacques Nienaber after the 2019 Rugby World Cup triumph but South Africa’s Director of Rugby continues to be a presence in and around the setup.

A figure only half hidden back stage, he peeks playfully at the audience when it suits. Erasmus didn’t speak to the media before Sunday’s defeat of Scotland in Marseille but he was never far away.

He poked his head into some press conferences and sat at the back on his own for at least one more. There were words and whispers and the odd laugh now and then but no more.

This part-phantom status extended to a virtual debrief the day after that Scotland result and, Rassie being Rassie, he was worth the risk of wifi failures and the impersonal nature of these remote hearings as he looked back on their opening Pool B win and ahead to the tournament to come.

“There was so much talk about Scotland being the best team ever in the history of Scottish teams,” he said, “famous for attacking and spreading the ball and playing a really high-pace game. So, we are very happy that we could contain them with all their great ball-players.

“The plan that we had to contain their attacking freedom and spreading the ball all over the field, I think we succeeded in that, but then there's some obvious issues which we have to get much better at if we want to go deep in this competition.”

The main concerns for the Boks for now aren’t really anything to do with their game per se but rather the fitness doubts over key lock Eben Etzebeth who came off with a shoulder issue and Jesse Kriel for his tackle on Jack Dempsey.

Scotland's Jamie Ritchie argues with South Africa's Eben Etzebeth.

Etzebeth will not be available for next weekend’s game against Romania in Bordeaux, not that this is any sort of issue. The question on everyone’s lips is whether he will be back for the third round meeting with Ireland in Paris next Saturday week.

“It's always tough in a game like that, opening game of the World Cup, but I do like the honesty when he said, ‘guys, I’ve got a sore shoulder’. You know, 85-per-cent-ready Eben won’t be able to contain a team like Scotland.

“At this stage it looks like a seven to ten day injury, like Jean Kleyn was, and like Canan (Moodie) was. So there is some time to manage him, but the scans will give us a definite on it. We might find out it’s much more serious, but at this stage it looks like a ten-day injury.”

The Boks are awaiting more detail on Etzebeth for now but Erasmus made the point that they would have to make the right call on the player if the problem is worse than expected.

“We’ll have to think clearly,” he explained.

The Kriel-Dempsey incident has generated a multitude of opinions and more concern for the decisions being made by referee and their officiating teams on the field and in the TMO bunkers over tackles perceived as being high and dangerous.

Kriel caught the Scottish forward high but escaped any censure for the act and Erasmus is of the opinion that his man won’t have to face up to any disciplinary committee either.

“We are really comfortable. There hasn’t been a citing [and] I’m pretty sure there won’t be a citing. If it isn’t direct head contact… And it wasn’t. It was tackled on the ball and then he moved up after tackling on the ball. I've seen a few stills where people just [show] after direct contact to the ball.

“If you took it a millisecond or a second or two back, you'll see that he clearly tackled on the ball. So we're very happy with how it was refereed. Finn Russell's [no arms tackle on Cheslin Kolbe] was much closer.

“Unfortunately he got injured then, that deflected a little bit from the action that he did, but we were happy with the decision that was made.

"Obviously there’s some time to do citings still but I'll be very surprised for the indirect contact, with first contact on the ball, that there will be anything from that.”