Rassie Springboks light tactic
Rassie Erasmus using coloured lights during rugby matches. Photo: Screenshot.

Home » Springboks traffic light system has ‘four meanings’

Springboks traffic light system has ‘four meanings’

Rassie Erasmus has provided further detail into the multi-purpose use of a ‘traffic light’ system deployed from the Springboks coaches box.

By Craig Lewis
11-10-23 13:52
in Featured
Rassie Springboks light tactic
Rassie Erasmus using coloured lights during rugby matches. Photo: Screenshot.

During the Springboks opening World Cup win over Scotland, Bok boss Rassie Erasmus and assistant coach Felix Jones caught the attention of the cameras by communicating from the Springboks’ coaches box using coloured lights.

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It immediately brought back memories of Erasmus famously used similar tactics during his days as head coach of the Free State Cheetahs over a decade ago. At the time, Erasmus became renowned for using coloured cards and then colour-coded lamps on top of the Free State Stadium to communicate with his players.

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The Springboks have continued to use the so-called traffic light system during the pool phase of the tournament, and Rassie Erasmus has now provided more information about the interesting strategy.

“The traffic light system has basically four different meanings and it changes every game. Sometimes you can say over the microphone listen they’re green and that means something or the physios and doctors. W get live updates of the players, when we makes substitutions we sometimes want info back from the physio and S&C coaches. What they think, which player is the least effective or dynamic and when we do substitutions we need information.

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“Some people think it’s kicks, other people think it’s play slower, other people think it’s kick wide but for us it is just a way of communication. In the first game, I was sitting on the bench with the bench players. A very nice match commissioner said I couldn’t sit there. I said I didn’t know, I don’t want to cause trouble but I have sat here for all the other matches. He said to me no, it was an addendum to the participation agreement.

“In the match I had to move up to the coaches and that is when we started putting on the lights as I couldn’t talk to the medical staff. So it’s really just a form of a communication, to get messages to players but to know what medical and S&C (strength and conditioning) staff are thinking.”

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WHAT ELSE HAS BEEN SAID ABOUT THE SPRINGBOKS UNIQUE APPROACH?

Previously, the Springboks insisted there was nothing illegal in what they were doing, and coach Jacques Nienaber insisted that it was primarily used for injury and substitution-related communication.

“In terms of the lights, it started when we played the French in Marseille last year. With this dome, the sound is phenomenal, you can’t hear people,” he said.

“Because there are lots of channels during the match where we communicate, it’s difficult in that atmosphere to talk to our support staff. A lot of teams will have a system to certain aspects, like, for example, how serious is the injury? Is it just a knock? That type of communication.”

“It’s like using hand signals. You don’t need permission from World Rugby. I was still at Munster when we employed a similar system,” said Nienaber.

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“The light would be red if it’s a serious thing and one must consider a substitution. Amber tells the support staff to give a guy another five or ten minutes to see if he’s okay. Green obviously means go-on. We did it in Ireland in 2016-17 too. 

“It’s an easy way of communicating instructions because, with the stadium noise, the radio channels can get consumed by medical talk. We really just use it for injuries or substitutions. 

“There’s nothing tactical or technical about it.”

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THERE WAS INITIALLY A WIDESPREAD REACTION TO THE USE OF THE LIGHTS

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