Rassie Erasmus says the Springboks’ midfield maul tactic was in response to the death of the lineout maul.
The Boks’ move, borrowed from the Paul Roos Gymnasium U14B team and first unveiled against Italy last year, quickly became one of the most talked-about innovations in world rugby.
While it produced immediate success, Erasmus insists it was about making a point as much as scoring tries.
“It was more trying to make a statement in the sense that we can’t maul from lineouts anymore because it’s becoming a dragging competition,” Erasmus told the media on Tuesday.
“So to win the lineout ball, the option was to play it off the top because mauling is dying and the only place you can maul, we felt, was in the midfield maul, and now they can’t plan who swims around on what side.”
Midfield lineout from the Springboks before Canan Moodie carves up! #RSAvITA pic.twitter.com/TH8hb8YgL7
— Jared Wright (@jaredwright17) July 12, 2025
The tactic came after the Springboks grew frustrated with the way mauls were being officiated and believed teams were increasingly prevented from building effective driving mauls from lineouts.
World Rugby has since issued new law application guidelines around players entering mauls from the wrong side, something Erasmus believes will restore the contest.
But despite the law clarification, he does not expect the midfield maul to disappear.
“It’s difficult to plan where the team is going to do midfield mauls,” he said.
“So I think teams are still going to do it because it’s tough to stop, but it was actually more of a rebellion against the way mauls were refereed.
“It was to almost say, ‘OK, if we’re not going to be able to maul there, we will in the midfield’. That was the thinking behind it.”
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Erasmus has noticed other teams adopting the tactic.
“The Japanese U20s did it; I saw a club team do it the other day,” he said. “It’s a very difficult thing to defend.”
Love it … pic.twitter.com/WIWoVNOcgl
— Brett Igoe (@brettruganalyst) June 27, 2026
The post Rassie: Midfield maul a Bok rebellion appeared first on SA Rugby magazine.
Rassie Erasmus says the Springboks’ midfield maul tactic was in response to the death of the lineout maul.
The post Rassie: Midfield maul a Bok rebellion appeared first on SA Rugby magazine. Read More
