Rassie Erasmus nails drop-kick in Rugby World Cup semi-final warm-up

Whilst his Springboks side were going through their final preparations to face Wales in the semi-final of the Rugby World Cup, South Africa head coach Rassie Erasmus decided to have a pop at goal, with a drop-kick. And as you can see below, he ain’t half bad!

The former Springboks back-rower should rightly be happy with himself for this effort. But it transpires he is no stranger to the art, with him apparently a regular at it in training and in warm-ups.

As you can see from the above image, he was kicking in the warm-up before the World Cup quarter-final against Japan – which the Springboks won 26-3. You can read our match report.

Related: This is the story Rassie Erasmus’s relationship with defence coach Jacques Nienaber

The coach is well-known for getting involved with his team’s preparations. so the story goes, he used to get involved with the lineouts at the Stormers, so he could make his technical points clear, visually.

As you can see from this image, he also continues to take part in a few other aspects of training.

Catch it!: Erasmus catches a tennis ball between Damian Willemse and Willie Le Roux (Getty Images)

We also know that Erasmus is aware of when cameras are on him during training.

Remember when he made a point of coaching the ‘Owen Farrell tackle’ in Springboks training, following the controversial hit the England playmaker put on André Esterhuizen in a one-point win? England pipped the Boks 12-11, with Farrell’s tackle going unpunished. So in front of the cameras, Erasmus showed Esterhuizen the best way to hit a tackle bag high.

We got his point loud and clear. It was almost as emphatic as his drop-goal int he Yokohama stadium!

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