Rassie Erasmus is already the ‘greatest coach of all-time’, Springboks don’t need a third World Cup to prove it – Ex-England forward
Springboks head coach Rassie Erasmus and an inset of ex-All Blacks boss Sir Steve Hansen (1)
Former England and Bath prop David Flatman ranks Rassie Erasmus as the ‘greatest coach of all-time’, hailing South Africa’s mentality under the former flanker.
South Africa are aiming to become the first-ever nation to win three Rugby World Cups in a row and Flatman believes that Erasmus is already one of the best to coach at the highest level, even if he is unsuccessful in his three-peat attempt.
Sir Steve Hansen was also involved in back-to-back Rugby World Cup victories with the All Blacks, serving as an assistant to Graham Henry in 2011 before leading the team as head coach four years later in England.
Erasmus v Hansen
Flatman says that Hansen is certainly in the conversation, but Erasmus pips it for him.
The respected pundit and former front-rower said as much when he appeared on the Hits Different show with ex-Harlequins and England scrum-half Danny Care.
“South Africa to win the World Cup again in 2027? Rassie Erasmus for me, already potentially is one of the greatest coaches of all-time. If he does that, he will surely be the undisputed heavyweight champion of the world. He is then the best coach ever?” Care said sparking the debate.
“Yeah. No, question for me,” Flatman replied.
“Would I say he’s already? I wonder if you look at the two double World Cup-winning teams, those All Blacks teams and Steve Hansen, they’re both in the conversation.
“Rassie wins three and he’s the greatest of all time and the history books don’t lie.”
Erasmus took charge of the Springboks in 2018 after a disastrous run under Allister Coetzee but quickly turned their fortunes around, guiding the side to an unlikely Rugby World Cup title in 2019.
Meanwhile, New Zealand were dominant under Hansen after winning the 2011 World Cup and were favourites to replicate their efforts four years later. Flatman says that carrying the favourites tag comes with its own pressures but still delivering when you are expected to do so can diminish the achievement.
“But I sort of love what Steve Hansen did because all the pressure was always on New Zealand,” he continued. “When all the pressure is always on you to beat everybody else and you deliver it, that might diminish it a bit because you are expected to win.”
Springboks don’t mind losing
He believes that the All Blacks have struggled with dealing with those expectations and take losses harder than South Africa, who are happy to cop a defeat if they are able to learn from it.
“Actually, I think dealing with that pressure we now see as being really difficult for New Zealand. The last few years it has become difficult for them,” he said.
Want more from Planet Rugby? Add us as a preferred source on Google to your favourites list for world-class coverage you can trust.
“Whereas South Africa wear defeat a lot better than New Zealand do. They lose the odd game, and when I say don’t mind, I do mean that. I think they don’t mind losing the odd game between major campaigns as long as they learn from it.”
Rassie Erasmus responds to accusations of leaking All Blacks misinformation to Irish media
Lazy South African DNA tag
Returning to the question of Erasmus being the greatest coach of all-time, Flatman concluded: “Three World Cups in a row makes him the greatest of all-time.
“Is he already? I would say yeah, because we’ve seen a team that was built on what we might sort of quite lazily call proper South African DNA, which is flat track bully, physicality, massive men – there are a lot of massive people over there, but it has evolved.
“It’s so much more than that now. So you have to deal with the physical threat everywhere, like everywhere. Even Faf de Klerk, he is a little bloke, but so aggressive, so powerful.
“Cobus Reinach is not a big unit but so aggressive and powerful. It’s everywhere but there’s so much creativity and invention, and they’re open to so many new ideas. He is evidently a wonderful rugby coach and probably the greatest of all time already.”
