FILE - Springboks coach Rassie Erasmus holds the Webb-Ellis aloft after their 2019 Rugby World Cup final win over England. FILE - Springboks coach Rassie Erasmus holds the Webb-Ellis aloft after their 2019 Rugby World Cup final win over England. Picture: Behrouz Mehri / AFP
Springboks coach Rassie Erasmus celebrates his 52nd birthday on Tuesday and will be hoping his team can give him a big gift on Sunday when they face Scotland in the opening match of their November Tour.
It’s been six wonderful years for the Springboks under Erasmus’ guidance after he took charge of a team devoid of confidence and a winning mentality.
After two Rugby Championship titles and back-to-back Rugby World Cup wins, Erasmus has now cemented his place as one of the game’s all-time great coaches.
IOL Sport’s John Goliath looks at five of Erasmus’ best Test wins as coach and director of rugby over the years after taking over the team in 2018.
After losing his first match in charge against Wales in the United States with a largely second-string side, the build-up to the match against England was overshadowed by the hype round Siya Kolisi being appointed the Springboks’ first black captain.
The atmosphere was incredible at Ellis Park, but, after a moving rendition of the national anthem, the Springboks found themselves 24-3 down after just 20 minutes. But the Boks hit back with a 20-minute blitz of their own, scoring four tries to lead 29-27 at the halftime break.
The second half was a tight affair, but the Boks prevailed by three points thanks to a massive defensive effort towards the end of the match.
The Springboks had gone into the match after suffering back back-to-back defeats against Argentina and the Wallabies away. Suddenly, Erasmus found himself under pressure from an expectant South African rugby public.
The Springboks also had not beaten the All Blacks in New Zealand since 2009, and they were under the pump early on after the home side took a 12-0 lead. However, the Boks fought back brilliantly, scoring three tries to go into the break 24-17 in the lead.
The Springboks then turned on the style with a few breathtaking tries. But the All Blacks came back at them to make it a two-point game going into the final five minutes. The Boks, however, held on heroically at the death to win the match, a performance that gave them the belief ahead of the 2019 Rugby World Cup.
Beat England 32-12 in World Cup final in Yokohama, November 2, 2019:
England went into the match as the hot favourites after dispatching of the All Blacks in the semi-finals. The Springboks, on the other hand, managed to sneak into the showpiece match with a narrow win over Wales.
However, the Boks would produce their best all-round display of Erasmus’ tenure, as they smashed England in a rather one-sided match with precision and clinical rugby.
Their forwards and scrum laid the foundation, before tries from Makazole Mapimpi and Cheslin Kolbe, as well 22 points from Handre Pollard’s boot saw them cruise to victory.
The series finale was overshadowed by “waterboy” Erasmus’ leaked video about referee Nic Berry’s performance in the first Test, which the Springboks lost. After the Boks won the second Test a week later, it was all on the line during the decider at Cape Town Stadium.
It was another brutal encounter in front of a handful of people during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic. But Cheslin Kolbe broke the game wide open with one of the great individual tries to give the Boks hope after a kicking battle.
In the end, Morne Steyn was again the hero, 12 years on from sinking the Lions in 2009. The veteran flyhalf slotted a penalty at the death to help the Boks clinch an historic series victory.
Erasmus was technically not the head coach at the time, but he was still running the show next to his good friend Jacques Nienaber.
The Springboks had reached the final against all odds, scoring one-point wins against France in the quarter-final and England in the semi-final when it looked like all was lost.
Erasmus and his team would put South Africans through the ringer again in the final against the All Blacks, who battled hard with 14 men on the park.
But the team again showed that never-say-die spirit to clinch back-to-back World Cups and cement Erasmus’ legacy.
@JohnGoliath82