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Former Springboks Coach explains why Rassie Erasmus is such an 'Extraordinary Coach'

Nick Mallett

Former Springboks head coach Nick Mallett has explained why he thinks current head coach Rassie Erasmus has become so successful in a role that he held from 1997 to 2000.

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Erasmus will be looking to win the Springboks’s third straight World Cup after victories at the 2023 World Cup in France, following on from the triumph in Japan back in 2019.

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The 68-year-old former head coach said on the Boks Office podcast that he believes his success comes from experience in multiple different situations.

“Going through, he was successful with Free State and won the Currie Cup, and then came to Western Province, got into the final of Super Rugby. He went to Munster and was successful there,” Mallett said.

“He’s always been successful. Initially, it was his technical ability that shone through but now it’s his emotional intelligence that has really developed since he’s got into his 50s.”

Mallett praised Erasmus’s ability to understand the players and their lives, making the players feel comfortable in their positions.

“His ability to understand that every single person is different, you press different buttons with different people, respect all the cultures. Be inclusive but don’t force people – we’re not all one, we’re all different.” 

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“His ability to handle a Makazole Mapimpi at the same time as a Pieter-Steph du Toit or Duane Vermeulen is extraordinary.

Erasmus’s rugby brain is one of the best in the business, but Mallett thinks his statistical thinking is unique to other coaches.

“He’s absolutely honest with the players, so every guy knows where he sits, what he’s got to do to get better and he always presents stats to the players.

“He says to them that the reason you’re not playing is the other guy made 18 tackles and you made 14, and you gave four penalties away.”

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“He’s statistically driven but caring at the same time, which is an unusual combination.”

Mallett isn’t worried about if Erasmus will ever be sacked, instead, he’s concerned about what the Springboks do after the 2027 World Cup in Australia where Erasmus may look for another challenge. 

“The worrying thing is what will happen when he goes. But I don’t think he has to worry about the Sword of Damocles being anywhere near him.”


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2 Comments
S
SES 83 days ago

greatest coach of all time

W
WW 82 days ago

Yip, let's hope he leaves with a bang.

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JW 3 hours ago
Why Les Kiss and Stuart Lancaster can lead Australia to glory

It is now 22 years since Michael Lewis published his groundbreaking treatise on winning against the odds

I’ve never bothered looking at it, though I have seen a move with Clint as a scout/producer. I’ve always just figured it was basic stuff for the age of statistics, is that right?

Following the Moneyball credo, the tailor has to cut his cloth to the material available

This is actually a great example of what I’m thinking of. This concept has abosolutely nothing to do with Moneyball, it is simple being able to realise how skillsets tie together and which ones are really revelant.


It sounds to me now like “moneyball” was just a necessity, it was like scienctest needing to come up with some random experiment to make all the other world scholars believe that Earth was round. The American sporting scene is very unique, I can totally imagine one of it’s problems is rich old owners not wanting to move with the times and understand how the game has changed. Some sort of mesiah was needed to convert the faithful.


While I’m at this point in the article I have to say, now the NRL is a sport were one would stand up and pay attention to the moneyball phenom. Like baseball, it’s a sport of hundreds of identical repetitions, and very easy to data point out.

the tailor has to cut his cloth to the material available and look to get ahead of an unfair game in the areas it has always been strong: predictive intelligence and rugby ‘smarts’

Actually while I’m still here, Opta Expected Points analysis is the one new tool I have found interesting in the age of data. Seen how the random plays out as either likely, or unlikely, in the data’s (and algorithms) has actually married very closely to how I saw a lot of contests pan out.


Engaging return article Nick. I wonder, how much of money ball is about strategy as apposed to picks, those young fella’s got ahead originally because they were picking players that played their way right? Often all you here about is in regards to players, quick phase ruck ball, one out or straight up, would be were I’d imagine the best gains are going to be for a data driven leap using an AI model of how to structure your phases. Then moving to tactically for each opposition.

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