In-depth analysis: Six expository things Erasmus revealed about SA rugby

‘Here we go again’ – Rassie Erasmus reveals why he left the Springboks when Allister Coetzee was head coach

Springboks head coach Rassie Erasmus and ex-coach Allister Coetzee.

Rassie Erasmus has revealed the reasoning behind his decision to leave South Africa in 2016.

Rassie Erasmus has revealed the reasoning behind his decision to leave South Africa in 2016 to join Munster after becoming frustrated with SA Rugby.

After serving as a technical specialist for the Springboks during the 2011 Rugby World Cup, Erasmus moved into the role of SA Rugby’s High-Performance Manager in 2012.

His remit included the SA women’s, 7s, SA Schools and U20s with the Springboks being outside of his scope.

He would assist Meyer and his staff for Springboks training camps and remained in the role when Allister Coetzee was named head coach in 2016.

This is when Erasmus thought there would be some change in the set-up and how things operated at SA Rugby and made suggestions as to how the coaching team should be set up for the Springboks.

Off-the-ball coach

One of his suggestions was to hire Mzwandile Stick as an ‘off-the-ball’ coach which initially seemed to be the case with Erasmus believing that Coetzee would take charge of the backline.

But that is not what unfolded as Stick was then thrown into the ‘deep’ becoming the backline coach instead.

The position which Erasmus initially wanted Stick to take up was one created by the now-Bok head coach as he believed that his experience as a former sevens and XVs player uniquely suited the expertise required.

“When Alistair came in, I thought, ‘Let’s do this, right’. I’ve seen so many bugger-ups now. I’ve made so many mistakes… but when I saw that we were not going try and do the things that I thought would work, that’s when I decided to leave,” Erasmus said in conversation with Stick on his podcast Rassie+.

“So the first thing was actually – and without talking down on anybody – but I saw potential in you… I thought because Allister was a backline coach, let’s get you in and make you the off-the-ball coach. Now, everybody was saying, what is the off-the-ball coach now? When most people watch the game, 99% of the people look at the ball but I thought you’d be great at that because of the position you played in sevens… and you had to grind through your playing career and find a way.

“We actually created the job of the off-the-ball coach and then basically it didn’t work out that way and Allister made you the backline coach and I thought Pieter de Villiers should be the scrum coach but he thought Matthew Proudfoot – not that I’m saying I was right – it just worked totally different than I saw it.

“That’s actually why I went to Munster. I thought ‘Here we go again’, we are going to make the same errors, maybe Allister is right and they win but I packed my bags and went to Munster.

“When I saw you [Stick] as the backline coach, I thought this is the deep end man.”

Stick’s baby

When Erasmus returned to South Africa in 2018, Stick was working with the South African u20s team. But that would change as he would rejoin the senior coaching squad in the role that Erasmus initially wanted him in back in 2016.

The Springboks head coach now believes that Stick is one of the best off-the-ball coaches in the world with two World Cup titles and a British and Irish Lions Series victory evidence of that.

“From everything in 2016, I will always be grateful for the opportunity I was given,” Stick said.

“For you to trust me to say ‘Stick this is the baby I want you to look after’ and I had to design a profile – there was nothing.

“One of the biggest goals for me was for the tight five to have the mind of a sevens player that way you have a better chance of having a team that will compete in competitions.

He added: “There was a stage with the All Blacks when they said that in the 60th minute that is when they take the opposition to another planet because they will get tired but the All Blacks will still have energy.

“One of my biggest goals was to make sure that we can also live on that planet with them.”