Rassie Erasmus: 2021 resignation letter, Lions tour cancellation row
Rassie Erasmus has explained why he wrote a letter of resignation to SA Rugby CEO Jurie Roux in July 2021 before the Test series versus the British and Irish Lions, adding that he came within seconds of pressing the ‘Leave’ button on a video call which would have resulted in the cancellation of the tour.
South Africa at the time was caught up in a covid crisis and Erasmus has now recounted the tensions that built up around not being able to fully prepare for the series.
The story is part of the the South African director of rugby’s autobiography which has recently hit the bookshelves in the UK and Ireland after being initially published in Afrikaans just before the start of Rugby World Cup 2023, a tournament which the Springboks went on to win.
Writing in ‘Rassie – Stories of Life and Rugby’, Erasmus highlighted how the fallout from the cancellation of a preparatory Test match versus Georgia was the moment when the 2021 tour turned sour, coming within a whisker of being called off only to be eventually saved by an unnamed member of the Lions management speak up on a call and insisting that they wanted to find solutions just as the SA director was about to end the meeting.
“This is probably where the tour started turning sour,” Erasmus wrote. “I called a group of players and management to my room and asked them to trust me.
If you're curious to know how Rassie and Jacques built this Springbok team, how they train, what motivates them and why they're so successful, it's all in Rassie's memoir. And a lot more. It's a remarkable story of a rugby-obsessed kid from the tiny world of Despatch who… https://t.co/rHWjw8N0cr
— David O'Sullivan (@davidosullie) November 1, 2023
“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*** are we going to play the Lions if we don’t play the SA A game on Cape Town?’ We were going to get a beating because we weren’t match-fit and needed that game before the Tests.
“I then wrote a letter to 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 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. I said, ‘Let’s get on a call with the Lions management and the MAC and let me hear all the rules and protocols and how they are supposed to work.’ My issue was that when we got covid cases, we were isolating for 11 days from when the person tested positive, while when the Lions got covid cases, they were isolating from when they first got symptoms, which turned out to be a shorter quarantine period.
“Their experience of covid protocols during the Six Nations stood them in good stead. 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.
“The players agreed with my approach. We got onto a Teams call on the Sunday morning, and I could see on Jurie’s face that he was despondent. Everyone was keeping quiet. I spoke up. ‘I have something to say – covid won, and we give up. We just can’t operate like this.
“My players are getting depressed, they can’t socialise, or see the families, or have meetings together. They are training in their rooms, doing sit-ups and push-ups using hotel furniture. We were doing everything virtually, and now we want to just get onto a field and train. We can’t do that, yet you guys are flying to Cape Town.’
“The Lions raised the issue of our 11 positive cases. I said I’d fly the players who didn’t have covid to Cape Town, but they objected. We had to wait until Thursday, they said, but that would mean the South Africa A game would be cancelled. I asked how we could play them after just one Test match against Georgia while they had four warm-up games. Their response was for us to organise our own warm-up game against someone.
“’Who?’ I asked. Against Western Province or something like that, was the response. I must add that they weren’t being arrogant; in fact, they were talking very nicely to me. I said this didn’t make any sense. If we didn’t leave that Sunday night to Cape Town, the tour was off. And they said, ‘Well, then the tour is off.’ I said, ‘Okay, thank you for everybody’s input, thank you for listening, and thank you for trying.’
“Then, as I was about to click on the red ‘Leave’ button, I heard a member of the Lions management speak up: ’Whoa, whoa, whoa, we are here to find solutions.’ Finally, we agreed another round of covid tests, and all the players who were negative would then fly to Cape Town, and those who were positive would stay behind. Most of the management team were positive, so (Mzwandile) Stokke and I coached the team.”
The Springboks went on to win the Test series 2-1 in Cape Town, bouncing back after a first Test loss to the Lions to win the second and third games.
Comments on RugbyPass
Dickson went to his pocket for a card, saw who it was, changed his mind and spoke at length to TMO. One angle clearly shows Care diving over a Saints player to kill the ball. 1st yellow, reason given for not Red was player was falling backwards. He was only falling backwards after contact with Lawes. Graham try should have stood. Mitchell did not have both hands on the ball, ball went forward from a Saints boot dragging over it. 2 intentional knock-on's. One of which had an overlap on the outside. If Quins are happy to win by intentional foul play, then it does not say much for them. Would appear to be a bad day for Karl Dickson, also for the RFU in appointing a Ref who spent 8 years as a player at one of the clubs.
1 Go to commentsLet’s not forget about Ardie Savea just yet.
4 Go to commentsThe URC and the Euro Championscup can’t run at the same time, basically dilutes both competitions.
1 Go to comments“While Sotutu should start at No.8 for the All Blacks against England, but it’s only in that arena that he can prove just how good he really is.” And that my friends is where simply hasnt shone despite multiple opportunities. Even in this performance you can see what did him in in the test arena..he almost always still runs at the opposition almost ramrod upright making him easier to stop than it should be.
4 Go to commentsShould have been 0-0 and a message from SR CEO to both teams - “don’t worry about turning up next year”.
4 Go to commentsGreat work Owen Franks. A great of this team, scoring his first try for the Crusaders since 2010.He was beaming, justifiably. A fine win, he and the rest did the job up front.
1 Go to commentsDanny Care. Lang in die tand.
1 Go to commentsBig empty stadium does nothing for atmosphere but munster are playing well with solid performance
1 Go to commentsYes, Fiji can win the World Cup! With that belief plus their christian faith🙏 and hard work it is achievable. Great article. Ian Duncan Fiji resident 1981-84
2 Go to commentsInteresting comments about Touch. England’s hosting the Touch World Cup this year and the numbers have exploded since their last World Cup in 2019, something like 70% more teams and 40 nations taking part. And England Touch have made a big thing about how many universities are in their BUCS University Touch Championship as well as Sport England membership. Can only see this growing even more domestically as more people become aware of it
10 Go to comments“Cortez Ratima is light years ahead of anyone on current form, while TJ Perenara has also skyrocketed into contention following the unfortunate injury to the talented Cam Roigard.” At last some sanity. Hitherto so many pundits have been wittering on about Finlay Christie to the point one wondered if they were observing a FC in a parallel universe where the FC they saw wasnt just the mediocre Shayne Philpott project of Fosters hapless AB reign in the real world. Ratima, Perenara and Fakatava are the ONLY logical 9s for Razor now Roigard is crocked.
4 Go to commentsThis game was just as painful as the Hurricanes game. It was real fork-in-the-eye stuff.
4 Go to commentsNow if they could just fire the Crusaders ground PA guy who likes to play his dance music and just loves the sound of his own voice the entire game, even when play is going on. And I thought their brass band thing of a few years ago was bad.
5 Go to commentsUnfortunately when you lose by far the two form players this season in Roigard and Aumua, you're left replacing two game changing Tanks with a couple of pea-shooters. Which is also about the speed of TJs pass.
4 Go to commentsBit rich coming from the guy with zero loyalty to anyone or any team, including happily taking a players place in a league world cup squad because well, SBW wanted to play in it and thus an already named player got told he was no longer going. And airing stuff like this, which may or may not be true, doesn't exactly say you're a stand up guy either SBW. Just looking to keep his name in lights as usual.
38 Go to commentsTamati Tua. …the Taniwha NPC midfielder. Ollie Sapsford, Hawkes Bay NPC midfielder…doing well
4 Go to commentsFiji deserve to be in the rugby championship, fans love seeing the Fijian national team play, the Fijian Drua is a wonderful idea but the players can still be stolen to play for NZ and AUS…
2 Go to commentsThe first concern for this afternoon are wheather forecast…
1 Go to commentsWhy cant I watch Rugby games please?
1 Go to commentsBeautiful shot from Finau, end of story. Gutted for Shaun Stevenson though.
4 Go to comments