Rassie Erasmus reveals why Springboks DIDN’T quote Sam Cane: Planet Rugby

Springboks head coach Rassie Erasmus has detailed his side have not opted to cite Sam Cane following the collision which left Siya Kolisi with a broken nose, following a personal apology from the ex-skipper.

Cane was sent off in controversial fashion during the World Cup final between the sides following a high tackle on Jesse Kriel, but avoided any sanctions for the tackle on Kolisi at Ellis Park.

As a result, the Springboks captain was a doubt for the repeat clash in Cape Town, but he has been named in the starting XV this weekend before an extended spell on the side-lines.

“I don’t think he did it on purpose”

Speaking to the media ahead of Test Two, Erasmus opened up on the decision not to cite Cane.

“Siya’s injury was obviously when Sam hit him. To be honest with you, I don’t think he did it on purpose,” said Erasmus. “A yellow card might have been appropriate or a penalty might have been appropriate; but I told him afterwards that we weren’t going to cite.”

He added: “You have 12 hours after a game to cite and if the Citing Commissioner picked it up and thought it put the red card threshold then they investigate, but they went through everything and on this specific one it didn’t come up as breaking the red card threshold.”

How the Springboks can win the Rugby Championship with two rounds to spare

Erasmus also highlighted the former All Blacks skipper came over to apologise.

“He came over and apologised. When you look at the action, yes, he could go a bit lower; but I don’t think he went for Siya’s head. It was just a head-on-head, it wasn’t with his shoulder it was his head on Siya’s nose. Sometimes it goes for you and against you.”

“The poor guy was red carded in a World Cup final. It wouldn’t have been nice to see him get a red card again.”

Is Siya Kolisi fit?

Despite breaking his nose in the collision, Siya Kolisi will play in Test Two in Cape Town; with Erasmus breaking down all the steps they undertook to ensure he was ok to play.

“After we did all the scans, we said to Siya ‘will you go into contact half-hearted, because your nose is swollen and your cheek is blown out’ and he said ‘let’s see’.

He added: “Internally, we announced the team with Siya starting / Marco (van Staden), but on Monday Siya did all the contact sessions, on Tuesday he went right through and I didn’t see anything today. It can’t break any further, so yeah he might look like Kwagga (Smith)!”

After being deemed fit, Kolisi will now re-unite with Pieter-Steph du Toit and Jasper Wiese in the back-row for the first time since the 12-11 victory over the All Blacks in the World Cup final.

READ NEXT: Springboks team winners and losers as Rassie Erasmus welcomes back ‘generational talent’, rewards ‘fantastic Bomb Squad star’ for All Blacks rematch