Boks warn: Hands off Erasmus
South African rugby has issued a ‘‘hands-off’’ notice to rival nations looking to steal former Springboks coach Rassie Erasmus.
The Rugby World Cup-winning coach was this week linked with a possible move to England though that scenario has been shot down by the 47-year-old.
But the threat of Erasmus being tempted to leave by big money offers is very real – one European agent describing it as ‘‘open season on Rassie’’ – but South African Rugby president Mark Alexander says they will do everything in their powers to hold on to the charismatic and patriotic Erasmus.
‘‘There is no way we would let him go,’’ Alexander told Keo.co.
za.
‘‘We wanted Rassie back in South Africa because we knew his value to our game and also because we knew his belief in the future of South African rugby and in South Africa as a country. Anyone who has interacted with Rassie knows that he bleeds green and gold.
‘‘I have read the reports, been asked about them and read some more this week about Rassie going to England, and all I can tell the world is that our World Cupwinning
coach is going nowhere.’’
Alexander pleaded for calm with an anxious South African rugby public.
‘‘There is a lot of disruption in world rugby at the moment and there is a lot of whispers and stories. I want to tell South Africans to be calm and to accept that the South African administration know what we have in Rassie, what we have in our game and we certainly [as an administration] know what we have to do to sustain the momentum of our incredible World Cup win in Japan, which was masterminded by Rassie,’’ he told Keo.co.za.
‘‘Jurie Roux [as chief executive], Rassie as director of rugby and myself as president of SA Rugby have always been on the same page when it comes to Rassie and why we wanted him back from Ireland. We didn’t bring him back for the 2019 World Cup or the 2021 British and Irish Lions tour.
‘‘We brought him back to lead the renaissance of South African rugby, which is beyond 2023.’’
Erasmus has stepped aside from the head coaching role with the Springboks to become the country’s director of rugby.
But he is expected to be hugely influential with Jacques Nienabe, his former assistant who has stepped up to be the Springboks coach.