Springbok coach opens up about controversies, transformation

Rassie Erasmus says that until the day he dies, he will insist that he did not deliberately leak the Nic Berry video that copped him a lengthy ban from World Rugby following the British and Irish Lions tour in 2021.

Erasmus and the Springboks spent Wednesday in Jersey trying to convince a pack of invited British media that the Boks do not deserve the Bad Boy reputation they largely have outside of South Africa.

The Bok coach wants to change the way the world sees his team and he admits that his high jinks on social media have meant the players have taken indirect flak.

“Until the day I die, I will insist that I only sent that video (assassinating the performance of Australia referee Berry) to the officials it was meant for —five people. I did not leak it for public consumption,” Erasmus told the BBC.

He served a one-year ban in 2022 after further annoying authorities with tweets about the refereeing of Wayne Barnes in the November Test against France in Marseilles.

It was not criticism

“Tweeting is an interesting one. If you go and read those tweets after Marseilles, there’s no criticism,” Erasmus points out. “I was talking to the South African fans. I said we had to change our game and adapt to what is easier for the referee to see,” Erasmus said.

“After that French game, we spoke in the change room about moving beyond the scrum and the maul as our chief weapons because there are so many grey areas for the referees. We were relying on an area that is tough for them.

“For example, if we get six opportunities (from set pieces), the referee gets two wrong and we mess up the rest, we do not get our tries,” the coach explained. “If you go back and read those tweets, they were about us changing how we play and not about the officials.

“And if you look at how we are currently playing with the ball more and using the width of the field, I was serious about us evolving our game. If we had not, we would be dead in the water.

“Since we have had (referee advisor) Jaco Peyper join us, we understand that a referee makes over 900 decisions in a game, so it is unfair to expect him to get all six vital ones correct.”

The power of social media

However, Erasmus admits that he at times has under-estimated the power of social media. He has an emotional South African audience and when Barnes and his family were threatened following Erasmus's tweets, he was horrified.

“You ask why I keep going after another World Cup. For me, whatever I do reflects on the Springbok team,” he said.

"And I don't want them to have the tag that we would do something like that (incite hate speech) on purpose. I hated what came out of that and I’m sorry about it.”

Erasmus has his regrets about the damage he has done off the field but this is offset by his success in transforming the Springboks on several fronts.

“People talk about hope and that everyone can become a Springbok – that’s nonsense. There have been only 900 Springboks in the history of the game.

“It is the working together of South Africans that counts. It doesn’t matter whether you are Christian, Muslim, Black, English, Afrikaans, Xhosa or Zulu.

“If I can use the best of every South African, that’s what gives me a kick. It gives me a lift when people see this can be done. The players understand this.

A hell of a lot of pressure

“Change comes with a hell of a lot of pressure, but I would rather lose and keep on trying to evolve.

“The word transformation became such a bad word in South Africa,” Erasmus continued. “It almost meant black in and white out. But transformation for us in the team started with change on several fronts, from team culture to playing style.”

Erasmus took over the Boks at the beginning of 2018 after arguably the most unsuccessful era in the team’s history. Thanks to Erasmus’s constant innovation, the Boks have been on an upward trajectory ever since.

The low point

“In 2017, Bok jerseys were burned and people didn't support the team,” Erasmus recalls. “There were 13,000 at a match against Argentina. We couldn’t fill stadiums and we were down and out.

“People were upset because Springboks are professionals who get well paid, and the fans had spent their money on a jersey and travelled from afar for Test matches, paying R2,000 for a ticket. They expected the Boks to win, or to put in the effort to win.”

Where most Springbok coaches have kept supporters at arms’ length, Erasmus embraces the fans.

“I love it when they give commentary. People send me their plans. When they criticise, it is because they are interested,” he says. “Sometimes they make good points and I listen to them. Sometimes they get upset with me but that’s the thing I love about South Africans. They care about the team and I love social media because it puts me in touch with the people.”

‘Infamous’ innovations

When Erasmus talks about change in the Springboks, he includes innovations such as changing the role of substitutes. The Bomb Squad is famous and in some quarters, infamous.

Erasmus explains how he arrived at the trail-blazing decision to put seven forwards and just one back on the bench for the World Cup final against the All Blacks.

“I was always frustrated when I sat with a reserve backline player and there’s five minutes to go and this guy didn’t get game time,” the coach said.

“It's a waste of a position. I started counting the matches that we’ve played and never used the last sub. We don’t always use all the backs but the forwards you do. You tend to only sub a back if he is injured.

“So changing the split on the bench was calculated. It was risky but when it comes to innovation, I say to myself, ‘If you didn’t try this and we lose, you will never forgive yourself.”

Creating space

Erasmus said that his coaching philosophy is about creating a space where players “feel safe if they work hard”.

“A player hates to be embarrassed over something they had no control over,” he says. “But I say, ‘If you buy in and take ownership, you’ll be safe here.

“And you’ll never be embarrassed by the group or the coaches if you tried something and it didn’t work. That is probably my philosophy.”