Rassie Erasmus is one of the most successful coaches international rugby has ever seen, but his methods are not always popular the world over.
The South Africa coach has guided his side to back-to-back World Cups in different roles, but he has been no stranger to controversy. But ultimately, his success cannot be argued with, nor can the respect he has garnered from his players.
Since becoming the Springboks’ director of rugby 2017, Erasmus has created a unique environment, but one that flanker Pieter-Steph du Toit describes as “tough” at the same time, as the former Springbok pushes his players to the limit.
The 2023 World Cup final player of the match was a guest on RPTV’s The Big Jim Show recently, where he opened up on how Erasmus operates.
The 31-year-old explained how Erasmus is the “best guy for the team” as he “gets the right people to understand his mindset”.
Alongside Jacques Nienaber, Erasmus created an unrivalled culture where “the team is bigger than the individual” and du Toit said how the 51-year-old gets his players to buy into that plan. He can nevertheless be quite extreme with his methods.
“He pushes you to the limits,” du Toit said.
“He gets under your skin. Sometimes he trains with you and, for instance, say he’s in defence and they pass to you and you miss the ball, he will make a noise before and you miss it and he’ll say ‘he’s scared’.
“So he gets under your skin and shouts ‘ah, he’s scared!’ He’s always trying to get under your skin and trying to get you to prove him wrong. That’s also what I meant with getting the right people. He pushes the buttons and says stuff that’s not always true but you think he believes it’s true and you want to prove him wrong.
“It’s proper old school.”
