2023-09-22 07:30:45
South African rugby director Rassie Erasmus describes himself in his autobiography as “a quiet, simple person”. As the clash on Saturday between the title holders and Ireland approaches, the final before the time of the 2023 World Cup, no one is obliged to believe it.
The complex personality of the former Springbok coach, who still pulls the strings from his new position, has earned him his share of detractors, undoubtedly quite numerous among the governing bodies and the refereeing body.
Erasmus was heavily sanctioned by World Rugby at the end of 2021 for having methodically criticized in a video lasting more than an hour the refereeing of Australian Nic Berry after a test lost by South Africa against the British and Irish Lions.
Barely authorized to resume his duties, he published a series of sarcastic tweets last fall mocking the decisions taken by Englishman Wayne Barnes during his team’s defeat against France in Marseille.
A repeat offense which earned him two additional suspension matches and a new media storm after the Barnes family was the subject of insults and threats.
Tactical engineering
His supporters, and he has many, prefer to see him as the man who turned around a South African team in bad shape when he took charge in 2018, leading it to its third world title of the year. next in Japan.
He has since handed over the position of coach to his faithful deputy, Jacques Nienaber, with whom he forms a sort of two-headed hydra capable of all tactical innovations.
The South Africa staff particularly surprised last month with a bench of seven forwards, for just one back, during the resounding victory over New Zealand (35-7) at the end of preparation.
South African rugby director Rassie Erasmus (l.) during the announcement of the players selected for the 2023 World Cup, in Johannesburg, August 8, 2023
AFP/Archives
The experiment will be renewed against Ireland this weekend, after having in the meantime sent instructions from the stands using colored headlights or lined up four scrum halves on the scoresheet against Romania.
So many curiosities which bear the stamp of Erasmus, as fine a tactician as he is an incorrigible provocateur. Even if he denies it.
“I can come across as a big mouth, a remorselessly arrogant and opinionated person,” he wrote in his autobiography, “Rassie: Stories of Life and Rugby”. “People think I’m an extrovert, but that’s not the case.”
Sensitivity
The provocations of the former international third line contrast with the latent sensitivity of a child raised by an alcoholic father who worked as a civil servant during the dark years of Apartheid.
Then in charge of the high level within the South African Federation, Erasmus helped launch the Elite Player Development (EPD) program in 2013 aimed at detecting and supporting emerging talents, particularly in disadvantaged environments.
“I wanted to help correct the mistakes of the past. Not just Apartheid, but also the way we tried to fix things, which served neither black nor white people,” he said. recently confided to the British newspaper The Guardian.
The 2019 world champions had in their ranks several players discovered thanks to the EPD program, first and foremost Siya Kolisi, whom Erasmus made the first black captain in the history of the Springboks.
South Africa Director of Rugby Rassie Erasmus ahead of the Rugby Championship match between New Zealand and South Africa in Auckland on July 15, 2023
AFP/Archives
“Lifting the World Cup was not the strongest moment,” the former coach told the Guardian. “It was seeing the players evolve and score together in the final, trusting each other.”
“Representing their country was for them a privilege which allowed them to overcome the pressure,” he explained. “The EPD was my greatest achievement.”
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