SA Rugby president: Hands off Rassie!
SA Rugby president Mark Alexander has told the world it is “hands off” when it comes to director of rugby and World Cup-winning coach Rassie Erasmus.
Alexander, with the support of his executive and SA Rugby CEO Jurie Roux was at the forefront of bringing back Erasmus to South Africa from Munster at the end of 2017.
Erasmus was appointed director of rugby and took on the additional role of Springbok coach in 2018. He guided the Springboks to the 2019 Rugby World Cup in Japan.
Media reports have suggested the Rugby Football Union approached Erasmus to take over from England coach Eddie Jones at the end of 2021. Erasmus has stated emphatically, in chats with me, that it would not happen. Erasmus launched his personal Twitter account with the most inspiring of pre-World Cup final speeches to the Springbok players and asked a global audience how he could ever follow up on that speech? He added: “It won’t happen”.
On Tuesday evening, Alexander said he and Roux would ensure no such thing could even be a consideration.
“We wanted Rassie back in South Africa because we knew his value to our game and also because we knew his belief in the future of South African rugby and in South Africa as a country. Anyone who has interacted with Rassie knows that he bleeds green and gold,” Alexander told Keo.co.za. “There is no way we would let him go.”
Erasmus, when he returned from Ireland at the end of 2017, was reported to have been appointed on a six-year contract as the national director of SA Rugby. The then Springbok coach Allister Coetzee would report to Erasmus in 2018. Coetzee refused Erasmus as his boss and it contributed to his departure from South African rugby.
Read the full story on: News24.