'Fans fire coaches': Rassie open to new coaching gig
SPOTLIGHT: Rassie Erasmus made no secret of his desire to take on another coaching challenge one day.
South Africa’s Director of Rugby is currently hard at work helping the Bok coaches prepare for this year’s World Cup in France.
Erasmus famously guided the Boks to World Cup glory in 2019 after only 18 months in charge.
In a wide-ranging interview with the Daily Mail, Erasmus knows that if the Boks don’t get positive results his job will be under the spotlight.
However, he is also keen to experience new opportunities should they arise.
“I always believe that CEOs and coaches don’t fire coaches. Fans fire coaches, and the media feels what the fans are thinking and put pressure on,” Erasmus told the Daily Mail.
“I’m very open that if it doesn’t go as well as it should the fans might want somebody else. If it goes like that, I understand, but if it goes lekker then that’s great.
“I would like to have another go somewhere.
“I’m 50. I think I’ve got another stint in me.
“If it’s here in South Africa, then great, fantastic, but I also understand it has to come to an end somewhere.”
Nigel on his way
In the interview, Erasmus also revealed that he is on the verge of securing the services of retired Welsh referee Nigel Owens.
Last month, Erasmus admitted he has made ‘some errors’ in dealing with match officials in the past and that is one of the reasons behind the attempt to get Owens on board.
Erasmus received a year-long stadium ban for his infamous hour-long video criticising referee Nic Berry’s performance in the first Test between the Springboks and the British and Irish Lions in 2021.
The SARU boss again made headlines again in November last year when he received a two-game ban for a string of Twitter posts focusing on refereeing decisions in their narrow defeats to Ireland and France.
“Our programme is settled now. It’s lekker,” said Erasmus.
“Everyone knows about Nigel. I actually just emailed him. From the outside, he said it’s a goer. From the inside, we’ll know next week.
“The reason is straightforward. We could take one of our local refs but it would be another South African voice. People from the outside think the South African voice is attacking or arrogant.
“Even the way I talk, sometimes people think it’s aggressive. When you’ve known me a while you know it’s not aggressive.
“We definitely want to change that view. Prior to those two incidents [Erasmus’s bans], we never had stuff like that. It will take hard work to change.
“Someone like Nigel might come in and say, ‘These guys are doing it right’ or he might say, ‘Hey guys, you have to change a few things here’. It’s the way he communicates. It’s a real thing we’re trying to fix, not a smokescreen.
“I don’t want to talk myself into a hole again here. We basically felt we have to repair this because obviously there’s not a great relationship.
“We want to reset that. It’s a genuine need for us to change.”
Source: The Daily Mail
