Battered warriors, egos and an ‘uitkak’ session — how wrath of Rassie delivered World Cup glory

MARSEILLE, FRANCE - OCTOBER 01: Eben Etzebeth of South Africa during the Rugby World Cup 2023 Pool B match between South Africa and Tonga at Stade Velodrome on October 01, 2023 in Marseille, France. (Photo by Steve Haag/Gallo Images)

By Lloyd Burnard and Khanyiso Tshwaku

17 Dec 2024

After the Springboks went down 8-13 to Ireland at the 2023 World Cup in France, Rassie Erasmus dropped some ruthless bombshells.

In 2017, the Springboks looked punch-drunk as Jacques Nienaber and Rassie Erasmus watched them being overpowered by Ireland. The following year, the coaching duo took up the reins a little more than 18 months before the 2019 World Cup in Japan. And so began a journey that was to end in victory at Stade de France six years later.

Twice the Glory goes deep inside the Bok story of that historic era: the Covid disruption, Siya Kolisi’s rise to the captaincy, Erasmus in hot water over that video, injury blows and the emergence of new talent as the team heads off to France.

The book also includes analysis and insights from the self-effacing Nienaber into how this team became the finest the world has seen. Read the excerpt below.

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The wrath of Rassie

In a game of brute force, the Springboks went down 8-13 to Ireland in Pool B at the 2023 Rugby World Cup in France.

What followed was a session in which Erasmus called out the players – especially Pieter-Steph du Toit and Siya Kolisi – for failing to impose themselves physically on the Irish. To highlight his points, he showed video footage of what he deemed key moments in the contest. In one clip, Du Toit was lying on the floor, clearly in pain, after the Boks had won a penalty and kicked for touch to set up a line-out 5m from the Irish line. Erasmus wanted his fiercest warrior to approach that line-out with his chest puffed out, radiating confidence, instead of arriving timidly.

For the director of rugby to call out Du Toit – and others – who had given blood, sweat and tears to the Bok cause over the years, with massive amounts of success, may have seemed brazen. But because of who it was coming from, Erasmus commanded the attention of every player, coach and member of the backroom staff.

‘Have you become bigger than the game?’

‘I promise you Siya Kolisi is not the biggest thing in South Africa. South Africa is the biggest thing in South Africa.’

‘It’s not because you lost. It’s because it’s been brewing and brewing and irritating me.’

‘You pretend that you will die for your country, but you will not.’

‘I feel there are a few egos here … your head is getting bigger than your ability, and that’s always a problem.’

Bombshell after bombshell. Erasmus didn’t hold back. He reminded his players of the possibility that they could be on a plane back to South Africa in the next week because of their poor performance and lack of passion against Ireland. It was far from the display he had expected, but it was the attitude of his star players that had upset Erasmus the most. Was it complacency? Was it false security? Was it ego? Whatever it was, Erasmus was going to sort it out, and quickly.

He went on to name only seven players – ‘Bongi, Frans [Malherbe], Damian, Faf, Cheslin, Kurt-Lee [Arendse], RG [Snyman]’ – who had shown him enough to earn their places in the team for the potential quarterfinal against France or New Zealand. In front of the entire squad, Erasmus told Mbonambi to embrace his leadership duties with unashamed gusto, suggesting that Kolisi might not be picked for the knockouts. Etzebeth, Du Toit, Duane Vermeulen and Kolisi were all excluded, which hit hard.

Damian Willemse of South Africa during the Rugby World Cup 2023 Pool B match between South Africa and Ireland at Stade de France on September 23, 2023 in Paris, France. (Photo by Steve Haag/Gallo Images)

Ultimately, Erasmus was not prepared to accept the way the Boks had been manhandled by the Irish. ‘That’s why Rassie gave them a mouthful,’ says Nienaber. ‘The energy was quite good but we just got physically fucked up. Ireland fucked us up physically. James Lowe fucked up Eben in the carry and they fucked our mauls up. We got physically fucked up by them and that was the bad part. Yes, Manie missed points off the tee, but even if we’d won that game we would have been disappointed with our physical performance. We weren’t physically good enough on the day, even if he’d kicked all his goals. That’s why Rassie laid into them, and I think there were other things bothering him, one of them being Duane, Siya and Eben.’

By that stage, Erasmus had identified a disconnect between three of his biggest names – Vermeulen, Kolisi and Etzebeth – that disturbed him. It hinged on how they conducted themselves at team meetings and training sessions, with signs of personality clashes and voices trying to be heard over others. All three were senior figures in the Bok changing room, so the potential disruption could have had enormous consequences and trickled down to the rest of the group.

After the Monday ‘uitkak’ session, Erasmus ordered the three into a room where they were to iron out their issues and come back fully aligned with the team goal of winning the World Cup. The instruction was to put egos aside and make the main thing the main thing once more. None of those players were on the list Erasmus had essentially already picked for the quarterfinal, so there was an acceptance from all sides that a realignment was needed. It was a quick meeting – about 20 minutes – and while its contents will seemingly forever remain within those four walls, it was necessary and all parties came out better for it.

The rest of the group, rattled by Erasmus, were feeling a little sorry for themselves, but Nienaber couldn’t get sucked in. His understanding with Erasmus, especially since he took on the head coaching responsibilities, was that he would focus solely on on-field tactical issues while off-field dramas would fall under the director of rugby. With that in mind, Nienaber quickly moved the players on. There was a World Cup game to win against Tonga, who over the years had proved more than a handful for bigger teams at Rugby World Cups. The Springboks themselves had almost slipped up against Tonga at the 2007 World Cup – also in France – when they squeaked a 30-25 pool stage win in Lens on their way to a second Webb Ellis Cup under Jake White.

In essence, Nienaber dished out a spoonful of emotional cement to his players, instructing them to harden up for the next Test. His standpoint displayed the deep trust between him and Erasmus in managing the delicate situation between the three senior players and the entire squad.

Senior player fallouts have historically torn teams apart, but that wasn’t the case with the Boks as Nienaber picked up the management baton after Erasmus’s tongue-lashing.

‘Rassie had a hunch that something needed to be sorted out and I would never dispute his hunch,’ says Nienaber. ‘He knew about it, told me about it, and he understood the influence it could have on the training sessions. Rassie isn’t a guy who will ask for permission, so he decided to go in hammer and tongs. He was phenomenal in sorting out those things.

‘Rassie can deliver a session like that and then decide not to get on the bus and go to training. I go with the team, and my task then was to deliver the message: “What has been said has been said. You need to work through it. You can feel sorry for yourselves if you want to, but we need to get up for Tonga. If you want to dwell on the kak-out session, do so, but it won’t get us over the line against Tonga.” In that game, there was still a mathematical chance of not getting out of the pool. My job was to make sure the guys got out of the funk and focused on the task of Tonga. I don’t even think Rassie went to that first training session after the meeting.’

As the Boks licked their wounds, there was a clear uptick in intensity for what was the start of the tournament run-in. They couldn’t afford any slip-ups against Tonga, and several players had a lot to prove.

Pollard had been on the sidelines, slotting kicks at training and trying to acquire the sharpness required for a World Cup. It was no slight on Libbok – a lot of the Tonga selections had the quarterfinal firmly in mind – but when Pollard was named in the starting lineup, the Boks had finally accepted that accurate goalkicking would be key as the tournament progressed.

Elsewhere, Nienaber and Erasmus recalled Le Roux and Vermeulen – at No 7 – while Fourie started at No 2 with Van Staden his backup and Mbonambi rested. The ‘second-string’ centre pairing of André Esterhuizen and Canan Moodie started, while Grant Williams – one of the specialist scrum halves in the squad – was again backed at wing in another showing of the Springboks’ willingness to be versatile. While Pollard was back, the Bok management already knew Libbok would be starting the quarterfinal, and this had been communicated to him and Pollard.

Rassie Erasmus, Coach of South Africa, looks on prior to the Rugby World Cup France 2023 match between South Africa and Tonga at Stade Velodrome on October 01, 2023 in Marseille, France. (Photo by David Rogers/Getty Images)

Eben Etzebeth of South Africa during the Rugby World Cup 2023 Pool B match between South Africa and Tonga at Stade Velodrome on October 01, 2023 in Marseille, France. (Photo by Steve Haag/Gallo Images)

In the 49-18 win over Tonga on 1 October in Marseille, Pollard and Libbok – who came off the bench – nailed all their conversions. The Boks scored seven tries, and despite the defensive lapses that allowed Tonga to score they were never in any trouble, getting their campaign back on track.

There was still a slim mathematical chance that the Boks could miss the playoffs, but it was unlikely to materialise. Scotland would need to beat Ireland by 21 points in their last pool game with both sides scoring four bonus-point tries. That didn’t happen. Instead, Ireland won 36-14 in Paris the following weekend and Scotland limped out of the pool stage for a second time in succession.

Marx was joined on the injury list by Mapimpi, who sustained a fractured cheekbone against Tonga that swelled up immediately as he left the field. Mapimpi, South Africa’s 2019 World Cup hero, had not put a foot wrong all tournament or in its build-up, but he had already fallen behind the brilliance of Arendse and Kolbe in the wing pecking order. This, almost certainly, would have been his last performance at the 2023 World Cup anyway. What his injury did, though, was open the door for another call-up, and Erasmus and Nienaber did not hesitate in turning to Lukhanyo Am.

It was an almost romantic turn of events, since it was Am and Mapimpi who had so perfectly linked for the Boks’ first World Cup final try in Yokohama against England four years earlier. Am, devastatingly injured on the eve of France 2023, now had his World Cup ticket at the expense of Mapimpi. Both will go down as two of the most influential, talented and groundbreaking players South African rugby has produced, but neither would repeat their heroics of 2019 and feature in the 2023 playoff run.

Ireland, unbeaten, secured the top spot in Pool B. Their reward was a quarterfinal against the All Blacks – the modern-day benchmark in the global game – that would provide them with another World Cup heartbreak. The Boks, after finishing second in the group, would take on the tournament hosts – and for many the favourites – France. DM

Twice the Glory by Lloyd Burnard and Khanyiso Tshwaku is published by Jonathan Ball Publishers (R280). Visit The Reading List for South African book news, daily – including excerpts!

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The wrath of Rassie