World Cup winner Erasmus' poignant promise to the late Anthony Foley
World Cup-winning coach Rassie Erasmus has made a startling promise to bring his medal to the grave of the late Anthony Foley, the head coach who died in his sleep in October 2016 when the South African was working as Munster director of rugby.
Erasmus was only months into his job in Limerick when Foley, the former Ireland international who had led the Irish province as captain to their breakthrough European Cup glory in 2006, passed away in Paris prior to a European fixture against Racing 92.
It was November 2017 when Erasmus stepped away from Munster, handing the reins to fellow South African Johann van Graan.
However, despite being two years gone from the scene in Limerick, Erasmus made an unsolicited promise to an Irish reporter attending the World Cup final that he will visit Foley’s grave in Co Clare with his medal some time in the future.
Erasmus had just finished his post-match media conference following South Africa’s 32-12 win over England last Saturday in Yokohama when he spotted Derek Foley, a journalist from the Irish Daily Star, offered his hand and said: “Tell Anthony Foley the next time I am in Limerick I promise I will bring my medal to visit him.”
(Continue reading below…)
Erasmus was very upset about the tragic manner of Foley’s death early in a season where he somehow managed to get grief-stricken Munster to pull together and celebrate the memory of their late head coach by reaching the final of the Guinness PRO12 and the semi-final of the Heineken Champions Cup.
In his post-World Cup final media conference, Eramsus had put the pressure surrounding rugby into sharp context when reflecting on how the Springboks improved following their opening weekend pool loss to New Zealand to go on and win the tournament.
Monday's edition includes 20-page soccer pullout pic.twitter.com/EVtHP4MI3v
— Irish Star US (@IrishStarUS) November 4, 2019
“We were terrible in that week in terms of talking about things and getting tense – it was a terrible build up that told us a lot about how to play the play-offs,” he explained.
“We were quite honest with one another about that. We started to talk a lot about what is pressure.
#SUAF 🔴🔴🔴 @Munsterrugby @FelixJones15 @AledWalters pic.twitter.com/UIOuKgqlzx
— Jacques Nienaber (@jacnienaber) November 8, 2019
“In South Africa, pressure is not having a job or if one of your close relatives is murdered. In South Africa, there are a lot of problems, which is pressure. We started talking about things like that.
“Rugby shouldn’t be something that creates pressure; it should be something that creates hope. We have a privilege of giving hope – it’s not a burden.”
WATCH: RugbyPass meets some rowdy fans following the World Cup final in Yokohama
Comments on RugbyPass
Just came back from the game and the atmosphere was amazing. Players stayed afterwards for more than a hour to sign stuff and take photos with fans. Great day out.
4 Go to commentsA great game. The Sharks without Etsebeth are a shadow of the team compared to when he plays. The limitations of Some of the expensive Sharks players are being exposed. Credit to Clermont for some exhilaration play at times.
4 Go to comments100% Mr Owens. But who would want to be a referee.? It must be the most difficult job on earth.
1 Go to commentsStarts to be overdone and oversold this systematic SA narrative…which nevertheless has the merit in this case to recognise blatant refereeing mistakes in their favor
4 Go to commentsNice article. Shades of Steinbeck. They can win the final if they take the game seriously; but only if they take it seriously.
4 Go to commentsWhat a sad way to end a glittering career. Somebody should tell him to delete his social media accounts and face the consequences of what he's done. Then he should slip away quietly into obscurity. This isn't likely to happen, something tells me he'll be back in The Sun / Daily Mail sooner rather than later.
3 Go to commentsguys its fine! he understands why he did what he did and has taken accountability for it; why should he have to be accountable to a court? after all he did was abuse people in person - its not as if he was engaging in _online_ abuse!
3 Go to commentsChiefs flanker Kaylum Boshier yellow-carded for collapsing the scrum as it rolled towards the line. It was a maul….
1 Go to commentsyou know, i’m a leinster fan so I want Northampton to lose and it is gonna be tuff with Cortney lawes, Alex michell and the other guys🏉 lets go leinster🏉
1 Go to commentsWelcome to the Pro ranks. Those hard teams of old do hit the sole better though. its a dog fight at the top.
6 Go to commentsCan someone fill me in please, I've read a number of Ben Smith articles now and it seems he's got something again South Africa? Surely, this game was over and done with 7 months ago. Can't we have something a bit more interesting and relevant, or is this the calibre of journalist on this site?
228 Go to commentsNot sure what the Welsh are moaning about. They’ve had far more players off England, than England have had off Wales. Guys like Josh Hathaway and Kane James will play for Wales in the end. And they’ll be fsr better players for having played in the Gallagher Premiership, than they ever would have been had they stayed mired in the shambles that is Welsh rugby.
4 Go to commentsThis is all being blown totally out of proportion. First of all, since half the Irish team isn’t Irish - it’s very likely that none of the Irish players said that at all and, thus, we’re not being arrogant. Second, since half the Irish team is Kiwi - it’s very likely the Kiwi players were predicting a NZ SA World Cup final. Which they got spot on. Good on them!
163 Go to commentsAha. An Irishman with logic! Follow the flow: - Ireland peaks with a >80% win record between 2020 and 2023. And then… - crashes out of another QF at the WC; - Beat a poor French Team; - Beat 6N wooden spoonists Italy; - Play shite against eventual wooden spoonists Wales; - Lose against the most boring, “the worst English team ever” , a team widely regarded as unable to attack; - scrape through against Scotland. This article, No - Trimble, is on the money! Except for one glaring statement: _The Springboks have a few aces in the hole in this debate being the reigning world champions and official world number ones_ There is no debate, boys and girls. There it is. In black and white. “Reigning World Champions and OFFICIAL world number ones”. Come July, the overrated Andy Farrell and this overhyped team are going to enter into a world of hurt.
87 Go to commentsI’d like to know what homoerotic events Daniel enjoyed at 8th man. I clearly missed out!
19 Go to commentsThis article is missing some detail, like some actual context or info about what led to him abusing the ref.
2 Go to comments*They used to say that football is a gentleman sport watched by hooligans and rugby is a hooligan sport watched by gentlemen. How times have changed.*
3 Go to commentsexcept ot wasnt late wasnt late at all so dont know why you all saying its late he commits early and its your fault fir not paying attention
30 Go to commentsNot sure the Bulls need another average utility back in their ranks. Chamberlain has been ok for the Sharks but is by no means an X-Factor player. Bulls bought several utility backs which they barely use. A typical example would be Henry Immelman who plays mostly Fullback. The Bulls however have rarely played him this year and he has played wing or centre. Bulls want to build depth but seems like they have too many surplus players
1 Go to commentsABs lost against a side playing without a hooker - The guy playing, had one shoulder. Line outs were a gimme for the ABs, and the last 8 minutes 14 played 14 against a team that had been smashed 3 weeks in a row… Yet with all that possession, with all that territory, with all the advantages they actually had, especially in the last 8 minutes, they couldn’t buy a point. Those last 8 minutes determined if they outplayed the Boks or not. History will show that the Boks completely outplayed the ABs, especially in those last 8 minutes, the business end of any rugby match
228 Go to comments