Rassie Erasmus, head coach of the Springboks, has disclosed why he turned down an English club before joining Munster and the ruse to add Jacques Nienaber to his coaching staff.
Erasmus was considering his options after losing the Bok position to Allister Coetzee. He has since disclosed that, prior to joining Munster, he had an interview with a Premiership team in 2016.
He would join the late Axel Foley, who was the head coach at the time, as the director of rugby in the Irish province.
First time meeting Felix Jones
In his first podcast, Rassie+, the Springboks head coach sat down with Felix Jones where he revisited his first meeting with the now Bok assistant coach and in doing so also disclosed why he opted for Munster instead of a gig in the Premiership.
He admits to have not knowing who Jones was before arriving at Munster but quickly learnt about the then-freshly retired former back who had sustained a neck injury that ended his career.
“I actually flew over for two interviews, the one was at an English club and the one was at Munster,” Erasmus said.
“When I got to the English club, it was all ‘Can you do media, how’s your corporate talking? And all those kinds of things.
“I thought ‘Hell, I don’t think I am going to fit in here’.
“But then I went to Munster and it was very different. I had the interview there and I chatted to most of the guys that had been there for a while. Paul O’Connell, Jerry Flannery and a lot of guys told me there is this guy Felix Jones.”
Erasmus set up a meeting with Jones through Munster’s CEO and promptly offered the former Munster back a role in his coaching team.
“I told them that I really don’t know him but I asked the CEO if I could meet you and they put me up in this massive hotel with a massive room,” he continued.
“And you came in there and we chatted for an hour and a half and the feeling I got was there is a real work ethic here.”
“That was your first real coaching gig, we appointed you and I flew back and told Jacques to head over – he didn’t have the job yet at that stage,
” Erasmus smiled, adding, “I made Jacques fly over there thinking he had the job already, but he still had to interview for the job – which he got.
” Although Erasmus had effectively offered Jones the position as an assistant coach after their first meeting, his right-hand man Nienaber’s position was not yet assured, but that didn’t stop the former Springboks flanker from telling Jones to pack his bags.
