Rassie Erasmus and Jacques Nienaber must lead the Springboks to the 2023 Rugby World Cup, regardless of Saturday’s result against England at Twickenham.
Erasmus, the unifier of South African rugby in 2019 with his appointment of Siya Kolisi as Springboks captain and the subsequent winning of the World Cup, has become the great divider of opinion within the rugby community in South Africa.
Globally, the saint of 2019 is now the leper. His insistence on using his Twitter account on social media to condemn refereeing inadequacies and basic incompetence has been unrelenting but, in respect of the spirit of the game, it has been unacceptable.
Erasmus has been unrepentant. His social media account has been on freeze for a few days post his two match-day World Rugby suspension from attending the Springboks' match-day events. Don’t see that as an apology. None has been forthcoming. Erasmus’s popularity, within South African rugby’s leadership, is at a low because of the damage his tweets have done to South African rugby, the Springboks and the image of South African rugby.
He has not acted in his personal capacity but as the national director of rugby. There is no justification. Erasmus was wrong and he misread public sentiment and also the global and South African rugby landscape.
Nienaber, who for two decades has been the second in charge to all of Erasmus’s teams, with a primary focus on defence, is the current Springboks coach. Erasmus, who coached the 2019 World Cup-winning Boks, appointed Nienaber. It was an obvious choice for Erasmus, who retained control of the team, from strategy to squad selection, but relinquished having to front the media on a consistent basis.
Springbok and SA Rugby doesn’t need the upheaval and there are mature and emphatic ways to deal with the situation.
Such has been the behaviour of Erasmus in the past year, he has been like a moth to a light when it comes to the media, by way of his social media account. Erasmus has brought the game into disrepute. He has embarrassed the very company/organisation that employs him.
Ordinarily, he should be fired. But South African rugby has never been an ordinary place and there is nothing “ordinarily” when it comes to the Springboks, rugby and World Cups.
If SA Rugby dismissed Erasmus, Nienaber would align with his mate and go as well. It may also cause some very influential players to side with Erasmus. It is not a situation anyone within South African rugby needs, not with the World Cup technically a few months away. It may only be played in 11 months’ time, but the real emphasis on the Boks comes from June onwards in 2023.
It would take a brave or foolish coach to step in and try to do a short-term “ambulance” job, and frankly it is not one that has to be done. Erasmus and Nienaber have built a group of players good enough to defend the 2019 World Cup title. They have been inconsistent with results since 2019, losing nearly as many matches as they win against the best teams. Then again, they won seven from 14 in 2018 and a year later were World Cup champions.
The point is Springbok and SA Rugby doesn’t need the upheaval and there are mature and emphatic ways to deal with the situation. What is required now is the strongest of leadership from those to whom Erasmus reports. Erasmus, in his capacity as national director of rugby, should be banned internally from any form of social media interaction relating to the Springboks.
History shows that all this has done is bring the game into disrepute. Nienaber should be allowed to get on with the job of preparing the Boks for France 2023 and Erasmus’s main focus must be to support his mate and supposed head coach. The duo have the players and the length of time with those players to be history-makers and be the first South African coaching duo to successfully win back-to-back World Cups.
It is possible, but only if SA Rugby’s leadership takes back control of the narrative, does the barking and decides when to wag the tail. Right now, the tail wags the dog and the tail is out of control. SA Rugby’s leadership must dictate the tail wagging and if they are strong enough to do this, that tail will be wagging for the right reasons in France in 2023.
• Mark Keohane is the founder of keo.co.za, a multiple award-winning sports writer and the content director at Habari Media. Twitter: @mark_keohane
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