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Rassie Erasmus makes a series of revelations in his new book, Rassie: Stories of Life and Rugby, including:
How then-New Zealand Rugby boss Steve Tew rallied against proposed Twenty20-like lucrative rugby competition
Outspoken World Cup-winning Springboks coach Rassie Erasmus has opened up about his ill-fated hybrid rugby revolution – a plot scuttled after New Zealand Rugby (NZR) bosses thought he was trying to poach All Blacks stars Daniel Carter and Richie McCaw to play Super Rugby in South Africa.
In his newly-released autobiography – Rassie: Stories of Life and Rugby – claims the radical concept which was inspired by Twenty20 cricket was eventually killed off amid protests led by then NZR chief executive Steve Tew.
Erasmus – who played 36 tests for the Springboks between 1997-2001, before coaching the side to their 2019 Rugby World Cup triumph and then being one of the masterminds behind this year’s cup triumph – revealed the group had contacted “more than 100 top international players” to take part in the event.
It was planned to have eight privately owned franchises competing for a substantial financial prize.
Among the New Zealanders the trio tried to head-hunt in early 2010 were then All Blacks stars Carter and McCaw.
All Black greats Richie McCaw and Daniel Carter were among high profile players Rassie Erasmus wanted to sign. Photo / Brett Phibbs
In Rassie, Erasmus painfully reveals how the plan fell apart after the approach to the legendary duo.
“While we were talking to players from the Crusaders, including Richie McCaw and Dan Carter, after a Super Rugby match against the Stormers in Cape Town, we were spotted by the Crusaders coaching staff, who thought we were trying to sign their players to join the Stormers,” Erasmus wrote.
“They immediately reported the incident to New Zealand Rugby CEO Steve Tew, and he sent a formal complaint to the then-president of SA Rugby Regan Hoskins.”
Hoskins was well aware of the plan, having been previously fully briefed by the trio.
Frikkie Erasmus and former South Africa Rugby chair Dr Jan Marais were dispatched to a meeting in Sydney in a bid to calm Tew, New Zealand Rugby and fellow Sanzar partners Australia.
The pair were also asked to explain the “financial benefits” the planned rugby revolution could offer.
“Unfortunately, they weren’t in favour of the competition and made it clear they wouldn’t allow their players to take part,” Erasmus wrote.
Steve Tew was not impressed by the proposed lucrative rugby tournament that was proposed by Rassie Erasmus. Photo / Photosport
“But because of the money they would receive, the players remained committed, so we said we would continue with our plans.
“Tew then complained to the International Rugby Board and we subsequently received a letter from the IRB notifying us that any player or coach who took part in the competition would be permanently banned from playing rugby.
“That brought an abrupt end to our idea.”
Turning off the Mains – how Laurie Mains’ era at the Cats ended in controversy
Former All Blacks fullback and coach Laurie Mains might have found love in South Africa, via his second wife Annemarie.
At the head of the list of Cats players who were happy to see him go was Erasmus. And in his book, he says the best thing from Mains’ legacy of coaching him was teaching him how not to operate.
While he turned around their fortunes quickly – going from near the bottom of the table to semifinalists – things “deteriorated fast” between captain and coach in 2001.
“This was at a time when SARFU started introducing quotas to bring more black players into the game and, even though Laurie’s wife was South African, I felt he didn’t properly understand South Africa and its people,” Erasmus writes in Rassie.
“He didn’t appreciate the political sensitivities in South Africa, the inequalities people face, and what transformation meant.
“He was stubborn and blundered when he tried to make quotas work.”
Laurie Mains has not been fondly remembered by Rassie Erasmus for his time coaching the Cats. Photo / Photosport
Erasmus claimed that included asking Springboks back Conrad Jantjes (deemed a quota player) to fake an injury so he could be replaced by Dean Hall (a non-quota player favoured by Mains) during a match.
“I was very angry because I felt this was a huge embarrassment for Conrad, and unfair on Dean.
“I said to Laurie, ‘Don’t do this – let’s make another plan, but don’t make a person fake an injury’.
“You can’t build a team and get the players to believe in each other when this is going on.
“But because my credibility wasn’t great, Laurie didn’t take me seriously. I started behaving badly and was becoming more self-centered.”
Erasmus said his relationship – and that of some of his teammates – became so bad that he and Springboks World Cup-winning wing Chester Williams went to prominent South African rugby official, and Cats supremo, “Doc” Louis Lyut and “told him we couldn’t play under Laurie”.
Rassie Erasmus - during his team talk ahead of the 2019 Rugby World Cup final - says he learnt things not to do as a coach from Laurie Mains. Photo / YouTube, SuperSport
“Doc listened to us and started to work Laurie out of the job.
“I felt Laurie’s coaching methods were outdated as he didn’t do a proper analysis on his own players and the opposition.
“He preferred the old-school way of coaching. I was doing a lot of technical analysis for the team, and Laurie would fall asleep while I was going through the stats on my computer. He didn’t care to learn the modern approach to coaching.
“Our relationship became particularly toxic on our trip to New Zealand and Australia. Despite the problems, I was playing good rugby [I was later named Sanzar’s Players’ Player of the Year], and we beat the Blues and the Crusaders, who are always tough to beat at home.
“Laurie told us the danger men in the Blues were Matua Parkinson and Carlos Spencer. But because he didn’t believe in studying the opposition properly, he didn’t know that neither of them were playing.”
Ill and battling with a stomach bug, Erasmus said he asked Mains to be replaced at halftime in the clash against the Blues.
Rassie Erasmus writes Laurie Mains warned his Cats team to beware of Carlos Spencer - even though the star first five was not going to be playing against his team. Photo / Photosport
Erasmus quit the tour, faking an injury and flying home.
“Looking back, that was the wrong decision. As captain, I should have had it out with Laurie and resolved the problem.”
He added that what he experienced in Mains’ final season as Cats coach had later helped shape his coaching style, in terms of how not to go about things.
“I learnt from the mistakes both of us made. I won’t have players who behave as badly as I did, feeling entitled just because they are playing well.
“How Laurie coached and analysed is exactly how I don’t want to be as a coach.
“But more importantly, I learnt to have proper communication with the players, to address grievances properly and not allow ill feelings to fester and affect the whole team.”
That includes the 22-18 win over the then John Hart-coached All Blacks in the playoff for third and fourth at the 1999 Rugby World Cup at Cardiff’s Millennium Stadium.
Erasmus writes in Rassie – which is published by Macmillan – that he felt the All Blacks were beaten in the match before referee Peter Marshall signalled for play to start.
Coach John Hart watches glumly as France defeat the All Blacks in the 1999 Rugby World Cup semifinal. A week later the side lost to the Springboks.
“The only thing that stood out for me there, apart from winning, was that I’d never faced a haka in which the All Blacks looked so unmotivated,” he wrote.
“I have faced the All Black haka five times in my career, and that was the only time I looked at them and thought, ‘F***, they are not up for this game’.”
Neil Reid is a Napier-based senior reporter who covers general news, features and sport. He joined the Herald in 2014 and has 30 years of newsroom experience.
