South Africa are mounting a charm offensive this autumn. They have won the last two World Cups, their 2021 series against the British & Irish Lions and, in September, clinched a first Rugby Championship title since 2019. Listen to Rassie Erasmus, however, and it is clear the Springboks believe hearts and minds still elude them.
Outside of South Africa, at least. At home they are deified, most of all Erasmus, but the head coach believes that, in the eyes of the rest of the watching world, they are tarred as the villains of the piece. “It has been years, from the Bakkies Botha era, that we are bullies who don’t really care what people think,” he says. “But we do. I care what people think about the players because they are very good guys.”
There are times when you have to take Erasmus and what he says with a pinch of salt. He has given his detractors plenty of ammunition over the years and remains an unpopular figure at the Rugby Football Union for the pile-on that came the way of the referee Wayne Barnes after critical comments made about his performance on social media. His behaviour during the 2021 Lions tour would switch between amusing and absurd and, if South Africa have to be commended for successfully defending their World Cup with three consecutive one-point wins, admiration rather than adulation has tended to come their way.
Erasmus wants to change that. He has called an audience at South Africa’s training camp in Jersey before autumn Tests that begin against Scotland at Murrayfield on Sunday, with England and Wales to follow. He hints at what will happen when he is no longer in position, perhaps thinking about his legacy, and suggests he feels the Springboks are misunderstood.
“If somebody doesn’t agree with something you are doing, you do listen to it and it doesn’t upset you but you think: ‘Shit, as long as South Africans are happy,’” he says. “But you don’t want to make other people unhappy. You don’t want people not to like you. You don’t want people to think you are stubborn. You don’t want people to think you are arrogant, especially if you know the characters in the team.
“I think [it’s good] for the future coaches and the future of the Springboks for the next guy who comes in to have a sort of a relationship, so when we go over here it’s not always: ‘Whoa, what is Eddie up to? What are the mind games being played?’ You know, all out war, 80,000 people at Twickenham wanting to kill us.”
Clearly there is a commercial imperative, too. The weakness of the South African rand means they are never going to be the wealthiest union but there is a concerted effort to strengthen the Springboks brand. The All Blacks lead the way in that regard but South Africa are double world champions after all and evidently want to cash in. Their jerseys carry the logo of sponsors MTN – a domestic telecommunications company – and when that contract is up for renewal the Springboks can be expected to seek a far more lucrative deal given their success.
Their players also have remarkable stories to tell, not least the ever articulate Siya Kolisi. While he speaks from a position of strength, given South Africa’s recent record and the fact that he has blooded almost 50 players this year, Erasmus clearly takes issue with any perception of hubris within his squad.
“I would just say, don’t respect us more for [our achievements],” he adds. “We are happy with our South Africans respecting us for that. Or, don’t give us accolades for that. We don’t need a tap on the shoulder for that. We just don’t want to hear other reasons why that wasn’t good enough or that ‘you are not this great team’.
“We have never said we are this great team. We have never said we are No 1 in the world. We have never been the team that has been challenging our status. We just go out there. You see people say: ‘Are they really No 1?’ We don’t really care if you say that. But is it necessary to say it in public? Say it to your buddy in the bar.”
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The rub here is that Erasmus and his coaching staff have a long history of going looking, sometimes years into the past, for external criticism as a means of motivating their players. They have fostered a Millwall mentality and used it to impressive effect. The second Chasing the Sun documentary illustrates how he fired up his players with clips from the Irish media before their defeat by Ireland and, by his own admission, it is a go-to motivation tool.
So what happens if there is no criticism with which to light a fire under his players? “It will always be personal,” says Erasmus. “A rugby match will always be personal for us. Why it’s personal is because we are representing South Africa. If somebody wants to challenge South Africa in a rugby match, it is our job to protect South Africa in that sense. So making it personal, yes, I must tell you we do.
“And sometimes we will go and find something that somebody said many years ago. And you remember how much it hurt that specific day, when you hurt for that specific day. And it might be five years old. But that hurt comes back. And that is not psyching our players up. Psyching up, and hoo-ha chest-pumping, that lasts five or six minutes.
“When it becomes personal, the match, the individual challenge, our guys thrive. I don’t want this to sound like we want to make every side the enemy. That is what we are actually trying not to do. We play a really physical brand, but the players are definitely not these guys who just want to hate people. That’s not what we want to do.”
