A frustrated Rassie Erasmus put his job on the line to ensure the Springboks were given a fair shot to beat the British & Irish Lions.
In his new book, Rassie: Stories of Life and Rugby, Erasmus revealed that he and Jacques Nienaber threatened to step down before the 2021 British & Irish Lions series, after facing an avalanche of challenges that nearly derailed the three Tests in South Africa.
The series roared on, at an empty Cape Town Stadium, culminating in a 2-1 win for the Boks. However, the series will also be remembered for Erasmus’ infamous leaked video, criticising the officiating in the first Test.
SA’s director of rugby, Erasmus said the tour – held during the national lockdown – was on the brink of collapse, and recounts the moment he almost quit.
In an extract from the book, Erasmus delved into the challenge posed by potentially losing 11 Bok squad members to positive PCR tests in the build up to the SA A match against the B&I Lions.
“This is probably where the tour started turning sour,” Erasmus says in an extract.
“I called a group of players and the management to my room and asked them to trust me. I said we couldn’t continue under the current situation where we were stuck in the hotel while the Lions were playing rugby.
“I said, ‘How the f**k are we going to play against the Lions if we don’t play this SA A game in Cape Town?’ We were going to get a beating because we weren’t match fit and needed that game before the Tests.
ALSO: Haters gonna hate – Willie
“I then wrote a letter to [then SA Rugby CEO] Jurie Roux in which I told him that Jacques and I were resigning because we couldn’t just throw away the Springboks’ name like that. I said we were in an impossible situation, and while I knew that we were on life support financially and SA Rugby needed the series to go ahead, we couldn’t carry on.
“We were saying that he could find new coaches, but we weren’t the people who would be irresponsible and put the Springboks up against international opposition and get 50 points scored against us because we hadn’t played enough rugby. Jurie was very upset. I was fighting hard.
“All I wanted to do was fly 23 healthy players to Cape Town and play the game on the Wednesday. I asked why the Lions could fly to Cape Town and not us.”
Rassie: Stories of Life and Rugby is available and on sale countrywide.
Photo: Shaun Roy/BackpagePix