Venter: 'Don't let Rassie go'
Saracens technical director Brendan Venter has sent out a warning to SARU that they would be mad not to keep Rassie Erasmus involved with the Springboks in the future.
Erasmus stepped down from his post with Western Province as Senior Professional Coach earlier this week and will begin shopping for a new job, which reports linking him to various roles abroad.
“I personally think that it’s essential that Rassie must get involved with the national team in some way or form, Venter told EWN Sport.
“Rassie is very bright, he’s committed and puts good systems in place.
“He’s already worked with the guys in this World Cup – they were very good and they didn’t lose the World Cup because they weren’t good, we just had the weirdest, unluckiest day in history.”
Venter also stressed that if he was not snapped up in his own country, he could easily be lost to South African rugby. Even worse, however, Venter thinks Erasmus could team up with another South African, Nick Mallett, and take over the England job after the Six Nations.
“The alternative [to getting him involved with the Boks] is that he’s going to coach England with Nick Mallett and I just don’t think we can allow that,” Venter said.
Where Erasmus would be most effective in the Boks set-up is debatable, but his technical skills and coaching strategies are too valuable to throw away; not to mention his relationship with top-level defence coach Jacques Nienaber who tends to follow his mentor wherever he goes.
According to leading weekly Afrikaans newspaper, Rapport, the two contenders for the vacant Springbok job are Gert Smal, who has served as forwards coach for the Boks and Ireland (most notably for the latter at the 2011 World Cup), and Bulls mentor Heyneke Meyer who just missed out to Peter de Villiers in 2008.
“There has been a massive improvement in the Springbok team and I don’t even think it’s even an issue, SA Rugby must just sit down and make sure that Rassie Erasmus stays involved in the system,” Venter stated.
