Springboks: Rassie Erasmus reveals ‘my biggest fear, that’s my nightmare’
Springboks boss Rassie Erasmus and, inset, long-serving skipper Siya Kolisi
Springboks boss Rassie Erasmus has revealed his biggest fear coaching the back-to-back Rugby World Cup champions. It was 2018 when the South African came back from coaching Munster in Ireland to rescue the damaged reputation of his country’s national team.
After finishing third at Rugby World Cup 2015 under Heyneke Meyer, Allister Coetzee took charge of the team and the two years that followed were difficult. Of the 24 Test matches played, only 11 were won as they were beaten on 11 occasions and drew twice.
That left the Springboks with the reputation of being a losing side, and this is the nightmare situation that Erasmus doesn’t want to return to. He can accept his team losing matches here and there, but the fear of a return to the bad habit of losing as frequently as winning is a situation that haunts him.
Appearing on Smash Sports with Siya Kolisi, the Springboks boss explained that the potential loss of the feel-good factor that rugby has in South African society is what drives him on to always be trying to improve his team.
“We’re all smiling and it’s going lekker…”
“I can tell you what I never want to happen,” he began when asked if he ever has nightmares. “Well, I hope it never happens. One of my biggest fears is, it’s not of losing; I hate losing. Every Saturday I want us to win. But it’s that satisfaction of, not the joy, that lekker feeling when we’re doing well, and the people are all happy and we’re all smiling and it’s going lekker.
“I know we’re going to lose somewhere and somewhere. Hopefully it [winning] doesn’t stop ever, but realistically somewhere you must go through depths or coaching team changes or whatever.
“I’m so afraid of that feeling going away, of what it means for South Africans. And it’s not a soppy thing to say the right thing on a podcast; I’m talking about that feeling when you drive, and you stop at the petrol station, and that guy comes and he high fives you and it’s not sucking up. It’s high-fiving; I’m so nervous of that, not going away; I’m saying when we’re not winning.
“When we’re not winning, I know times up, bro. Move on. It’s that reality. But what we feel now, just when that goes away, I wouldn’t know how to handle it if we go there. That would be my biggest fear; that’s my nightmare. Not the tap on the shoulder (to go), it’s the satisfaction of how it feels now and looks now.”
Long-serving skipper Kolisi recalled the difficult era before Erasmus took charge, when the Springboks were reputationally in the mud. “I know what it was like when it [the feeling of satisfaction] wasn’t there. It was painful.
“It was hard going to a stadium; this is a team that you’ve always dreamed of playing for, and nobody wants to come and watch it, burn your jersey and stuff there; that was a difficult period.
“But what we give people now, it’s not more people coming to say congratulations, it’s just how happy people are. I see South Africans living in first-world countries and they say we walk tall because you know…”
Since successfully retaining the Rugby World Cup in 2023, the Springboks have won 25 of their 30 Test matches and are currently on a nine-match winning streak ahead of next Saturday’s clash away to Argentina before the start of their four-Test, Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry series with the All Blacks.
Stretching this winning run into double figures isn’t what stresses Erasmus out; it’s ensuring that he keeps doing what he can to ensure the Springboks retain their restored reputation and don’t ever get tagged as a side that generally loses its matches.
“When other people are not thinking of why would we not be winning, I’m thinking this could influence us, this could influence us. When it was in the old age, it was what’s the best lineout move, what’s the best scrum move? Now we’ve got Tony (Brown) to do that best, we’ve got Jerry (Flannery)…
“It’s not the biggest worry; the thing that I’m thinking of the most to get right, not that it worries me but that I’m sure when we wake up tomorrow morning, I hope Jerry’s thought about this or when this social media post went out or this thing, I’m thinking can that influence it…
“I’m telling you now, I don’t even wonder about it – it’s a fact that if we lose, six months after that, it’s gone [the current feeling of satisfaction]. That’s the reality. I’m talking about if we become a losing team. I’m not saying a game. I’m saying if we get tagged a losing team.
Want more from Planet Rugby? Add us as a preferred source on Google to your favourites list for world-class coverage you can trust.
“I don’t even have five per cent doubt in me; I’ve been part of it. At the Cheetahs in Bloemfontein, we did a survey that they said you can’t fill the stadium. Seventy per cent of the town had to come there if you want to fill the stadium, and in 29 years we didn’t win the Currie Cup. We went and we won the Currie Cup; we filled it seven times in a row in orange.
“So everybody wants to feel part of something successful, but the moment you’re not successful, people won’t want to associate with something that’s not successful. That for me is not scary. That’s the fact, and that keeps me tomorrow morning: let’s have a plan. Let’s have a plan tomorrow evening. I have no doubt about that.”
