When times got tough during his spell in charge of Munster, Rassie Erasmus would retreat to Anthony Foley’s vacant office and remind himself of the important things in life.
lthough most people in the club tended to steer clear in the immediate aftermath of Foley’s untimely passing in 2016, for Erasmus, the room provided a strange comfort.
“When the High Performance Centre was being built, Axel always wanted that office, it was right next to mine,” Erasmus recalls.
“We never filled his office when I was there. A lot of times when I needed to gather my thoughts or get over some stuff I was disappointed about, I’d go and sit in Axel’s office.
“I’m not a person who has rituals, but I just felt that when I went in there, I wouldn’t put on the lights, but I got a lot of clarity, especially when I was doubting things.
“Not because I was talking to Axel directly, but because I felt I would get the answers there. I don’t know why.”
There were many aspects of Erasmus’s two years with Munster that took him by surprise, not least how well he, his wife and three daughters were welcomed by the people of Limerick.
That’s what made leaving his contract early all the more difficult, but when your country comes calling, it is very difficult to say no.
He may have questioned the decision at the time, but 20 months after uprooting his young family again, he was sitting at home in South Africa with a World Cup winner’s medal.
The manner of his exit did, however, disappoint some Munster supporters, particularly because they had believed their side had finally turned a corner under Erasmus.
It was a messy departure in truth, and after plenty of Chinese whispers, Erasmus’s exit was eventually confirmed in June 2017.
It was then that the 36-times-capped former Springbok, found himself back in Foley’s office facing up to some more home truths.
“I first called in all of the players I had just signed,” Erasmus explains.
“Jean Kleyn, JJ Hanrahan and Chris Farrell. I said, ‘Guys, I signed you, now I’m leaving’. That was the toughest chat and it was in Axel’s office. It wasn’t nice saying that to the players.
“People were looking for different things but there was nothing sinister. I was 18 months into my contract, I spoke to Niall (O’Donovan, Munster team manager) and I spoke to David Nucifora (IRFU performance director). They were human, they said, ‘Listen, you can go and coach your country’. They helped me.”
Munster and the IRFU were never going to stand in Erasmus’s way of taking over the Springboks.
If anything, seeing him lead South Africa to World Cup glory in Japan in 2019 merely reiterated the quality of coach they had on their hands before the lure of home proved too much.
“It was really emotional leaving and I know some people have bad blood because we left, but Limerick was good to us,” Erasmus says.
“It moulded us, not just me as a coach, helped a lot with our family life. Before that, we were on the road, not seeing each other and here we were, 18 months in the same house.
“I miss the Irish accent. My wife was so p***ed off when we left. She was just settling in with the children.
“My mother also fell in love with Ireland. She only listens to Irish music now. She is 80 and lives in an old age home, every week she gives me a memory stick and I have to find another eight Irish songs to put on there!
“We were based in Castleconnell, just outside Limerick. I have never seen people help each other so much. I really enjoyed the Irish people, they made us feel Irish. My youngest daughter went to Lisnagry, which is an Irish school.
“Man, she was talking and reciting all these poems in Irish. I was amazed. All of my kids know Stand up and Fight. If there is a Munster game on now and I can’t watch it, my twins will still watch it.
“There is a girl called Maeve who was my young one’s best friend at school. She is only nine now but three times a week they chat online.”
Erasmus had only been in the job as Munster’s first director of rugby for four months before Foley passed away suddenly on an away trip in Paris.
For all that many had wondered how the two men would work together, they formed a close bond.
“Axel was an intriguing person to me, I enjoyed him thoroughly,” Erasmus says.
“I still have his last WhatsApp he sent to me on the night he passed away. He sent me a podcast about creating your own reality. I still sometimes listen to it. We use it a bit as a theme in the team because it was the last thing he sent to me.
“To go through Axel’s death was tough. My father passed away in South Africa when I was in the military. I was away for the weekend and my father passed away.
“He wasn’t even ill. When I got there, they said he didn’t feel well. He passed away on a Tuesday, we buried him on the Thursday and the Friday I got back on the bus and went back to the army.
“I am worried this might come out wrong, it’s not privileged that Axel died but I was privileged to be part of this pure thing. How they celebrated his life was so beautiful. It’s something that really stays with me.
“Axel’s death changed me as person, without a doubt. You should celebrate someone’s life while they are alive because they can go away at any time, like my father and many other people around me have done.”
When Johann van Graan took over Munster in 2017, there was a perception that Erasmus engineered the move for his fellow South African. But Erasmus is eager to set the record straight.
“I was glad they extended his contract because I was really nervous in the beginning,” he admits.
“If he wasn’t successful, people would think it was like a swap thing, but it wasn’t at all. It wasn’t me telling Munster, ‘Johann is the next guy’. It was actually them going out and scouting him and then getting him.
“They asked my opinion about him and I knew there was really not a harder worker than that guy.
“I really rate Felix (Jones) and Jerry (Flannery), so when they left, I thought, ‘Jeez, this is a tough one’ because they are both Munster guys and they knew how things worked.
“But the people Munster brought in are world class. From (Graham) Rowntree to Stephen (Larkham).
“I thought at the beginning, we didn’t see a lot of that. There was a lot of box-kicking, but I’m the last guy to point the finger at box-kicking because I use it as a tactic.
“But we are starting to see those moves with Larkham. You are seeing the forwards dominating, so I definitely think they are getting there.”
Erasmus is glad to see two of his leading Boks, Damian de Allende and RG Snyman, at Munster, and his message for supporters who haven’t yet seen much of the latter is: “RG is a freak. He will do well and you will enjoy him.”
It has been a tough period for Erasmus who was battling his own health issues before he and his family all contracted Covid-19.
Thankfully, they have recovered and the 48-year-old is now preparing to lead the Springboks against the Lions on home soil this summer.
The world champions owe much of their change in fortunes to Erasmus’s vision. His right-hand man, Jacques Nienaber, who also made a big impact at Munster, is now the Boks’ head coach, while Erasmus ensures South African rugby continues on an upward trajectory.
Felix Jones remains a “vital cog in our team” and with ex-Ireland centre Lynne Cantwell appointed South Africa’s first high performance manager for women’s rugby, Erasmus has really tapped into the Irish talent.
A behind-the-scenes documentary about the Springboks’ successful World Cup campaign highlighted Erasmus’s strengths as a leader and a motivator, but his assertion that Wales “are not softies, they are not like Ireland”, didn’t go down well in these parts. However, he is eager to explain himself properly.
“When I rocked up at Munster, I saw what professionalism is. They are like precision farming,” Erasmus maintains.
“I went back to South Africa and tried to explain to the players what the Munster philosophy is all about. I definitely brought that in.
“When I spoke in the documentary, I said, ‘That’s their soul. They are mechanical, they do everything right.’
“France have another soul, England have another soul, and when I said we were going to play Wales, I said, ‘They are not like Ireland’, meaning, ‘They are structured people who are very professional. They are not softies. They are not like England who will go away.’
“I was trying to say they are not like other teams, but then people obviously freaked out that I was saying the Irish are softies, but I guess the people who know me, would know I would not say that about a team who f***ing gave us 38 points (in previous meeting in 2017). How can they be softies!”
For a man who cut short his time in Munster, Erasmus will still be fondly remembered by many supporters, who were appreciative of how he conducted himself when guiding the club through its darkest days.
He may no longer be able to take time out alone in the comforting surrounds of Foley’s office, but Erasmus is determined to ensure that his friend’s spirit lives on within him.
Rassie Erasmus joins online business leadership event Leaders Lounge.
See www.leadersloungelive.com
