Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus puts a lot of the success behind two consecutive World Cup triumphs down to time at Munster.
The 53-year-old – who is back in Ireland hoping to beat the Irish in Dublin on Saturday and make it three wins from three on their northern hemisphere tour – came in as director of rugby in 2016.
However, he then assumed the head coach role because of the tragic death in October that year of Anthony ‘Axel’ Foley but left at the end of 2017 to take up a similar post with South Africa.
Erasmus for his part said aside from the players never laughing at his jokes his life was transformed in his time with Munster.
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“Axel’s death was the saddest time,” he said at his farewell press conference in 2017. “For two or three weeks I felt the sorriest for myself, selfishly.
“I thought that was something to handle. But then again it was one of the times where I learned the most about myself, other people and about other cultures.
“It was sad but it was a life-changing experience for me in a lot of things I am doing as a coach,” he added.
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One thing that grates with many is he has yet to honour his promise to hang his 2019 World Cup winner’s medal on Foley’s tombstone.
Erasmus, though, certainly left his mark.
“He’s completely mental,” Ireland and Munster legend Peter O’Mahony told The Good, The Bad and The Rugby podcast in October. “He’s mad, but was exactly what we needed at the time.”
On the flip side of the coin another former Munster and Ireland icon Conor Murray recalls in his autobiography Cloud Nine, published this year, how Erasmus took no prisoners.
The former scrumhalf described Erasmus as “a blunt, hard-nosed South African – you could tell he was an old-school Springbok from his confrontational attitude.”
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Murray acknowledges Erasmus’ abilities – in his one season in charge he guided them to the 2017 European Champions Cup semi-final and the Pro12 final – and he showed “proper leadership” following Foley’s death in a Paris hotel room prior to a Champions Cup match.
The 36-year-old – like O’Mahony a Test centurion and retired from Test rugby – also recalled the darker side when he was suffering from nerve damage.
The former scrumhalf recalls how Erasmus tried to pressure him into playing in the 2017 Champions Cup semi-final against Saracens.
“Rassie is on to me all that week,” said Murray. “‘Are you OK? Will you play? Then it’s like, ‘Ah, you should be fine.’ There’s a bit of the old South African machismo in his attitude and, in general, that is no bad thing.
“The downside is this old-school rugby mentality where you should play injured, no matter what the consequences are.
“Pain is for wimps and all that. Just play through the pain barrier and you’ll be fine.”
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In the end Murray did not yield but was later called out by Erasmus in a team meeting.
Erasmus flashed up a photograph of Saracens Billy Vunipola, who had played in the semi-final despite a shoulder injury which ultimately cost him his place on the British & Irish Lions tour.
“That’s what a proper club player is,” Murray remembers Erasmus saying. “It was a dig at me, it was definitely a dig. All I can say about it now is, feck you Rassie and the horse you rode in on.”
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O’Mahony, though, says that aside from his sublime coaching abilities, Erasmus also displayed a human touch.
“He put on a creche for guys with kids. He was like, ‘What do you need to not worry about anything else, so you could perform at the weekend?’” said O’Mahony. “We were like, ‘we need this, that and the other’, and he went, ‘done, I’ll sort that, you leave that with me’.”
Photo: Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images
