Time for FRU to consider the ‘Erasmus Factor’

Flying Fijians need a coach who is driven to produce the desired results.

Congratulations to South Africa for winning the Rugby World Cup 2019.

The Springboks, under head coach Rassie Erasmus, superbly beat England 32-12 in the final at the International Stadium in Yokohama, Japan, on Saturday night.

It was South Africa’s third RWC win since the competition began and already there is talk of a changing rugby world order following the victory.

It was impressive to see how coach Erasmus stood the test despite contemplating quitting at one point. He had only been given the coaching job February 2018, and the odds were stacked against him. Erasmus had replaced Allister Coetzee and started planning for the 20 months leading up to the World Cup in Japan, with one of his goals was to seek consistency before the end of 2018.

His assignment was to turn things around for South Africa and it was a do-or-die performance against New Zealand, a year ago, when Erasmus was on the brink of quitting.

The Springboks won that September game 36-34 in Wellington to record their first victory against the All Blacks on New Zealand soil since 2009, while also wiping away memories of successive losses to Argentina and Australia in the Rugby Championship. “We had short-term targets and the Wellington test match was like a quarterfinal... we role-played that like it was our quarter-final,” Erasmus said with the Webb Ellis Cup standing in front of him.

He, like any other top professional coach, is driven to produce the desired results. Failing to do that only means one thing - to step down and move on. That’s what Australian Wallabies head coach Michael Cheika did after their unceremonious quarterfinal exit against England. He was followed by All Blacks coach Steve Hansen, although they finished off with a bronze medal.

The next few weeks is critical for the Fiji Rugby Union when decision makers are going to decide on whether to renew head coach John McKee’s contract or not.

The Fiji Airways Flying Fijians under McKee have not produced the results that we wanted at the 2015 and 2019 World Cups.

At both World Cups, the Flying Fijians recorded a win rate of 25 per cent, winning only one out of four pool games and failing to reach the knockout stages.

This is unacceptable considering that $2.5 million of taxpayers’ money that was spent in the team’s preparations.

If the decision makers at Rugby House do consider the ‘Erasmus Factor’, then we should be expecting a new head coach for the next four-year journey.