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Rassie Erasmus urged to switch Test allegience after World Cup win

29 Oct 2023

South Africa's fly-half Handre Pollard is congratuled by South Africa's director Rassie Erasmus during the trophy ceremony after the France 2023 Rugby World Cup Final match between New Zealand and South Africa at the Stade de France in Saint-Denis, on the outskirts of Paris, on October 28, 2023. (Photo by FRANCK FIFE / AFP) (Photo by FRANCK FIFE/AFP via Getty Images)

Double Rugby World Cup winning Springboks director of rugby Rassie Erasmus has been called upon to switch allegiance following South Africa’s thrilling victory in the Rugby World Cup final in Paris.

New Zealand captain Sam Cane became the first player to be sent off in a World Cup final as South Africa retained their title with a nail-biting 12-11 victory at Stade de France.

Cane was shown a red card for in the 28th minute for a dangerous tackle on Jesse Kriel but the All Blacks responded with character and resilience to take the champions to the wire on a wet Paris night.

All Black coach Ian Foster speaks about his team’s one-point loss to the Springboks in the World Cup Final

Beauden Barrett ran in the first try ever scored against South Africa in a World Cup final as the final quarter approached but, with Richie Mo’unga unable to add the conversion, New Zealand still trailed.

Jordie Barrett then missed a tricky long-range penalty that would have toppled the Springboks and despite furious late attempts to strike from long range they were unable to break through the green wall.

Handre Pollard kicked four first-half penalties but South Africa failed to score again after the interval of one of the greatest finals that ended with the 80,000 crowd on their feet in nervous anticipation.

The victory means South Africa are the most successful nation in men’s World Cup history with their fourth crown nudging them clear of the All Blacks.

Now DoR Erasmus has been called upon to lend a hand in righting England. “Hey Rassie, congrats and all that but what are your plans now? Fancy leading England please?’

Hey @RassieRugby congrats and all that but what are your plans now? Fancy leading @EnglandRugby please?!
— Andy Goode (@AndyGoode10) October 28, 2023

Signs are that with head coach Jacques Nienaber heading to Leinster, Erasmus will stay to guide the Springboks for the time being at least. Erasmus finding a new gig with England isn’t so far fetched though, as his assistant coach Felix Jones is already on his way north after the World Cup.

As regards to social media, Erasmus – who has changed his picture to that of Agustin Pichot for some reason – took the time following the Boks’ win to direct a Tweet at RugbyPass writer Ben Smith, who’s become a regular sparring partner.

Sleep lekka sheep ?????? https://t.co/2pwvp7pzXo pic.twitter.com/mxDDVxgjUh
— Rassie Erasmus (@RassieRugby) October 28, 2023

additional reporting PA

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Comments

47 Comments

Bob Marler 629 days ago

I see more chance of Rassie getting involved at World Rugby than coaching another International team.

Tv 631 days ago

Rassie is my hero and I shall not be moved 🎶

Heather 632 days ago

England's grassroots is the problem. It is an elitist sport that the working class don’t participate in.

Curgently only Grammar, Private and a select few comprehensives (usually in wealthy areas) have rugby teams. The club links are with these schools and I don’t see signs of any grassroots development. Any engagement with clubs is at a hefty fee-minimum of £50 pd and £200pw for holiday clubs thereby excluding the working class. Very little effort has been made by clubs to develop teams at ordinary primary schools.

I am a parent involved at club level and can only afford to offer my son the basic 2 hour per week for the season.

GG 632 days ago

Wow- in SA the opposite is happening. While the pathway is still via the schools system, primarily what we call government schools, not private, and here admittedly previously disadvantaged kids need to find ways into those schools, we are able to offer a fairly wide structure within most kids are in the system. It would even be better if ALL kids could be exposed to rugger, as then we won’t lose hidden talent. We are extremely fortunate that the collective DNA of our Afrikaans, coloured( acceptable term in Saffa) and the burgeoning black population gives us with regards size and strength, talented and skillful and outrageously strong kids who start to come through our system.

NJ 632 days ago

Pounds ? One more world cup 🥤

Jon 632 days ago

Rassie bleeds bokke…no ways

Rudolph_ 632 days ago

There’s no fixing English Rugby, it’s still got way too many Englishmen in it

Paul 631 days ago

🤣😆🤣

JL 632 days ago

Lekke Rassie, please stay, we have and Irish incoming tour. We need to take care of the Zombies on home soil. Dankie!

Jon 632 days ago

How to fix English rugby:

1) lose the arrogance - when you lose, fix the problems and more on

2) develop at least 1/2 attacking flyhalfs - give Finn an OBE maybe?

3) Keep your tight 5 beefy and get your backrow faster - think Earl not Ludlum

4) lose Faz as in right now - he has peaked and we all need to accept that

5) Felix Jones is a great hire - now fix the offense

6) be cold-blooded on selection (aka RSA)

fl 632 days ago

Based on how South Africa have done recently, its hard to argue arrogance is an issue (not intended as a dig). I also think England’s back row is already adequatly fast. Earl is already clearly ahead of ludlam in the pecking order!

Also, what do you mean about selection? Borthwick has seemed pretty cold blooded so far. While Rassie is clearly a genius on selection, he actually seems to have been incredibly loyal, and to have almost entriely avoided dropping players. The lesson for the rest of the world to draw would seem to be that we should keep faith in established players and established relationships, rather than dropping players when they hit a run of poor form. Say what you want about Farrell - but I’m convinced Rassie wouldn’t drop him if he was a south african player.

fl 632 days ago

who do you want to give an OBE?

GG 632 days ago

Congrats to Ben( and Nigel) for all their predictions and how accurate they were. Well done.

GG 632 days ago

England should stop looking abroad for answers and rather support local. They also need to develop their style and ambition and stop playing their typical cynical style, perfected by Itoje.

GG 632 days ago

Doubt Rassie would ever coach that ‘Kant’ of the world. Nice challenge at home to build a team for 2027. He had started to evolve our game with Manie and Moodie. Going forward we should develop further and a guy like Sascha would add hugely. We have a number of really talented backline guys in the franchises. We also need to add depth in the forwards, as we have a number in their early 30’s. Will be interesting to see who he brings in to replace Jacques and Felix. Rassie likes challenges, and he also needs to address our 7’s side and Woman’s rugger. Would also like more focus on strengthening our under 20 side as I feel we lose momentum from our schools talent into that pathway. Too many of our talented school kids seem to get ‘lost’ after school and up to 21 yrs. Too many get caught up in the ‘academies’ and don’t play enough hard rugger before they end up in franchises. But the future looks good and there is plenty for Rassie to tackle.

Jon 632 days ago

Agree on the under-20s…in the senior side, we lose Marx, Bongeni, Deon before 2027 so we need a plan for the line-out and at hooker

Chris 633 days ago

Sir Clive would have a heart attack 😂

JJGhost 632 days ago

I think Sir Clive actually offered a similar suggestion in his column last week 😜

Petrus78 633 days ago

Missing Ben’s wisdom…. Where are you Ben…..you ok mate…..?🤣

Rowland 633 days ago

Congratulations from the Irish, delighted for you

Rowland 633 days ago

Remember, Irish were only team to beat SA, lots of talent there too

JJGhost 632 days ago

They out boksed the boks which is something

Tom 633 days ago

Be interesting to see how Nienaber goes at Leinster, will be a true test of his credentials. Leinster don't have much in the way of physical prowess but they've played the smartest rugby in the NH. Can Neinaber continue to be successful without the incredible rugby athletes available to him in SA.

Wa 633 days ago

Rassie won’t drop the rainbow nation.

EV 633 days ago

Rassie is a legend, but so is the support he gets from administrators and fans.

They allow him to lose games to build deep and versatile RWC squads.

That is what England needs.

FR 633 days ago

Would love to see Rassie coach a tier 2 nation. He could work wonders. Clearly an amazing coach and tactical genius

BeegMike 633 days ago

To be fair Ben Smith has become an embarrassment to Rugbypass

TI 633 days ago

Nah. Ben Smith generates a lot of clickbait, which helps RugbyPass sell ads. The clown has his show, the fans have something to laugh at, and the landlord gets the rent. Everyone’s happy.

Sam 633 days ago

Rassie, please become the first coach to win a hattrick of RWCs.

Peter 633 days ago

But the third one for who?!?

ant 633 days ago

New Frontiers. The all time greatest team in world rugby. We did not play in the first two tournaments. Wonder if we would have bagged at least one of the two. Bokke on top world champions. Its engraved Matt Williams haba

LL 633 days ago

You didn’t play because you were governed by racists

GailPaste 633 days ago

Nothing like a bit of humility from Springbok fans. The proverbial stone throwing masters of hypocrisy. Silly mouse.

HU 633 days ago

Rassie is amongst the all-time Top10 coaches of any sports ….

Jon 633 days ago

Rassie is a genius and deserves a big pay raise…regardless of where he goes, his impact on the bokke is permanent

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Comments on RugbyPass

NH 9 minutes ago

'The Wallabies need to convert much better - or Melbourne could be much worse'

Carlo has been very good this year Miz, but I thought Mcreights on ball presence defensively in the first half was critical to stopping some of the barnstorming momentum the lions had and was simply worldclass/irreplaceable. Carlo is more physical in the tackle and carry, but he is not as effective at the breakdown. We can get physicality elsewhere, unfortunately we can’t get breakdwon presence from many other players at the moment. From what I could tell, the lions went to a ‘pocock’ like tactic in the 2nd half of putting about 4 blokes into any ruck fraser attended to stop him, knowing they could get quick ball at the next ruck that he won’t be at.

15 Go to comments

Wit Kant 30 minutes ago

The stat in which the Springboks outperformed everyone fivefold in July

Guess we can apply that same theory to the all backs. Lose 4 test, drop down the rankings.

26 Go to comments

Wit Kant 33 minutes ago

The stat in which the Springboks outperformed everyone fivefold in July

Probably because theres about 40 players that can do the job equally well.

26 Go to comments

Otagoman II 44 minutes ago

'Would be great': Ronan O'Gara backs rugby to ape football-style rule change

No! This is secret squirrel nonsense by coaches. We only just got Super rugby coaches to reveal their teams on Wednesday now some want to reverse it. It’s contempt for the punter. Boot this rubbish idea to touch.

1 Go to comments

BA 51 minutes ago

Competing interests and rotated squads: What the 'player welfare summer' is really telling us

If I had the infinity stones ability to change within reason I would reformat the seasons so the Champions cup to be played week in week out at one stage not broken up and with far less rounds, SA teams do a champions cup type thing with Super and others, and from these comps u get ur World club cup teans and rankings would cut out some games to start

67 Go to comments

JW 59 minutes ago

Why New Zealand learned more from their July series than France

Laddies are going gang busters.

Maybe because their players now qualify for France given the Top 14 is the only viable destination and clubs don’t like their players getting injured unless for them?

Sorry, j/k’s..

317 Go to comments

BA 1 hour ago

Competing interests and rotated squads: What the 'player welfare summer' is really telling us

When u say 4 weeks do you mean of the season to start or that’s his holiday total ? do international players up North who go on southern tours do they get a late start to their preseason and then most times a late start?

67 Go to comments

IkeaBoy 1 hour ago

Competing interests and rotated squads: What the 'player welfare summer' is really telling us

Very good question. I think we may see that at some point with lower body trauma.

I help coach an U-12 team. The IRFU had set up tackle schools all around the place last summer to help coach good habits in the kids around the new tackle heights.

One of our young lads tackled low in the first game of the season. His first contact of the match. He got the other lads knee and knocked himself clean out.

There are risks high and low.

67 Go to comments

JW 1 hour ago

Why New Zealand learned more from their July series than France

HAHAHAHA he certainly isn’t 123 kilos LOL

He is 113, probably a good number for Hoskins (who looks fairly overweight these days) to be at too.

He is tall I’ll give him that, maybe that was his lock weight growing up? Personally I think he needs to bulk up if he wants to play international footy, he’s not that dynamic, like Ardie, that he can get away with such a lite weight. He just needs to be a little bit more tougher and it would improve his abrasive game immensely.

That goes for French rugby in general really, so maybe just let them be, but that team was giving up 30kg to the All Black pack and it showed. BTW you see Tizzano talking about adding on weight in the offseason? Around 15kg.

317 Go to comments

JW 1 hour ago

Why New Zealand learned more from their July series than France

I’m not sure what FFR would do without those grants. There financials are a mystery though, for instance the below also said NZ spent 42mil $ on the community game in 23’, does the FFR do that sort of thing?

From WRs 21’ financials that showed up on google I see they spent

Tournaments - 17m pound

Grants 13mil

Admin expenses of 9mil

Wages of 13m

Improving and marketing the game 16m

The previous year they gave out nearly 100mil point in grants (from 19’ WC no doubt).

Im not a financial guy, but I’d assume that largest area would be direct investment in those countries pros scenes, and that second largest area have a portion on rugby initiatives in those T2 countries. Nearly 50mil net loss for the year btw, from having 100m reserves. You still think the Top 14 contributes more than that to T2 nations?

317 Go to comments

Cantab 1 hour ago

The stat in which the Springboks outperformed everyone fivefold in July

Nothing like red/yellow cards to ruin a good contest. Let's hope there aren't any. NZ are overdue for a couple of wins over the old foe.

26 Go to comments

IkeaBoy 1 hour ago

Competing interests and rotated squads: What the 'player welfare summer' is really telling us

Totally. I thought that was the biggest advantage but the will just never seemed to be there. Maybe it's different if their hand is forced.

I'm not saying you wouldn't get some ugly scorelines early in that type of comp, you could imagine Japan getting caught cold in their first game and getting banjaxed. It would bed in though.

Seems to be a huge fan base in Japan and the Fijian fans have always looked mental. Good mental.

67 Go to comments

IkeaBoy 1 hour ago

Competing interests and rotated squads: What the 'player welfare summer' is really telling us

Japan were joyful to watch in the 2015 RWC. World rugby rewards them with playing SA and SCO on a 4 day turn around.

They were probably the form team of the 2019 RWC by the end of the pools stage. Their running game was ridiculous.

They've dropped the ball since I think. They are now prioritising their league and the money streams. Eddie Jones hardly helps either.

Yeah Fiji have a lot to fight against. The day that team regularly becomes an 80 min team, the world order will change. They simply don't produce average athletes.

67 Go to comments

AllyOz 1 hour ago

Competing interests and rotated squads: What the 'player welfare summer' is really telling us

Does this slow the development in some key positions. I imagine it must be difficult for the strength based positions (locks and props particularly) to build up and maintain muscle strength and weight without a set rest period. I can remember as a (fairly low grade) player that it took a long time in pre-season to build 3 - 4 kg of muscle and I would generally lose that amount of weight (up to 5 kg) across the season. I am sure the fitness science and S & C blokes are a lot better in their prep than in my day and also that the players are a lot more dedicated than I was, but strength training generally requires and element of rest & recovery to be most effective.

67 Go to comments

IkeaBoy 1 hour ago

Competing interests and rotated squads: What the 'player welfare summer' is really telling us

Yeah they were in serious trouble at the time from what I read of it. Very, very dicey times.

I would only get on board with the RC changes if it genuinely brought Fiji, Samoa and Tonga into the light. I've doubts. Even the proposed Nations Cup seems purely to ring fence the world order of rugby.

I agree on Georgia but more for form. They missed their chance. It's peaked.

You could argue that by the time Italy finally joined they'd already peaked. They were a proper, serious outfit in the 90’s but by the time they joined their moment had passed.

67 Go to comments

AllyOz 1 hour ago

Competing interests and rotated squads: What the 'player welfare summer' is really telling us

Why do you think it is involvements Nick, rather than minutes. I thought teams could rest some of there bigger names by giving them bench time, just using them for 20 at the end or only 50 at the start? Or is this trying to take into account travel and training loads as well?

67 Go to comments

IkeaBoy 1 hour ago

Competing interests and rotated squads: What the 'player welfare summer' is really telling us

Agree completely with that. There are some cracking stadiums knocking around Europe. Plenty of modest 20k capacity ones that are well located in the cities and would look brilliant when full and televised.

I wasn't at the recent IRE V Georgia game but I was in that stadium a few years back. It has it's charms.

Nobody wants to say it but regular games against tier 2 nations to get back in the winning habit is what Wales need at test level. A second division 6N would be just the ticket for that.

67 Go to comments

Over the sideline 1 hour ago

Competing interests and rotated squads: What the 'player welfare summer' is really telling us

I know many seem to keep this line of thinking but do a lot of top players play in France?

No ABs do, very few Wallabies do, no English or Irish do as their national selection policy doesn’t allow it, and do Scotland and Wales select from OS?

I do know that Nonu plays in it tho.

Probably a number of PI nations players do and that is a problem for those nations around getting released for tests.

Saffa's would be the main non French players who still also play tests I’d imagine.

The actually study of the comps make-up would be interesting.

67 Go to comments

IkeaBoy 1 hour ago

Competing interests and rotated squads: What the 'player welfare summer' is really telling us