Rassie Erasmus and Dave Rennie to share a beer but not a referee meeting before second Test

Rassie Erasmus has confirmed he will not hold a formal meeting with All Blacks coach Dave Rennie and Saturday’s referee, Nika Amashukeli, before the second Test in Cape Town.

The Springbok coach said he and Rennie would instead meet for a beer on Friday, continuing an informal arrangement from last week’s Test in Johannesburg. The referee will not be part of that meeting.

“Dave and I had a beer [in Johannesburg], and we’re going to try and catch up on Friday for a beer in Cape Town, but without the referee,” Erasmus said.

World Rugby’s new laws, which came into effect for this international season, require both coaches to agree before a meeting with the match official can take place. Erasmus said he did not believe such a gathering would allow coaches to discuss the laws openly or usefully.

“In my opinion, there’s no logic behind two coaches meeting together and discussing the laws with the referees.”

The South Africa coach argued that the presence of the opposing coach would prevent either side from raising specific concerns about areas of the game they wanted the referee to monitor.

“In my opinion, it’s impossible to discuss something with the referee with the other coach present,” noted Erasmus.

“I’m going to say, ‘Listen, we are concerned about this in the scrums,’ and he’s going to say, ‘But we do this in the scrums.’”

Erasmus said the same problem would arise when discussing the breakdown, where one team might want clarification about the opposition’s approach without revealing its concerns before the match.

“You might say, ‘These guys really clean out well at the breakdown, will you be looking at that?’ But you can’t have that discussion in front of the referee because then the opposition coach knows that’s what you’re looking at.

“So what do you discuss with the referee? ‘Boys, are you going to play within the laws?’ The laws of the game are the laws, so it’s almost impossible.”

The comments come after the arrangements used before last week’s Test, when Erasmus and Rennie met for a drink but did not conduct a formal session with the referee.

Saturday’s second Test in Cape Town will begin at 17:10. Erasmus will be hoping the post-match beers are more enjoyable after a Springbok victory, with South Africa aiming to respond positively on home ground.

A separate discussion around the match has also focused on Reinach’s yellow card, after he said: “They put us under pressure and made me do things”. There has also been attention on why Kurt-Lee is eligible to play in Cape Town after a head injury assessment.