Rassie’s parting advice to WP

There is continuing speculation that he will be part of Heyneke Meyer’s new management team, but Rassie Erasmus would still be involved with Western Province were it not for the interference from elected officials that eventually prompted him to quit as director of rugby in an attempt to ease the pressure on the other coaches.

Erasmus has been constantly linked by the media with a role at the Springboks in the three months since the World Cup, and on Sunday there were reports new Bok coach Meyer would move to secure his signature as technical adviser during the course of the coming week.

But late last week Erasmus was still unsure of his future as he reflected on his four years with a Stormers team he became quite passionate about.

Last Tuesday was his last day in the job and he had what he described as a constructive exit meeting with Stormers bosses.

Erasmus confirmed that interference from union officials and the different agendas at work in WP rugby had prompted him to resign, and his parting advice to Stormers managing director Rob Wagner and board chairman Vic Christian was that the people involved in the union would have to put divisive personal agendas aside and start working together if Cape rugby was to go to the top.

“I had the meeting with the MD and chairman of the board and it is up to them whether they act on what I told them. It was a constructive meeting,” said Erasmus.

POLITICAL CONSIDERATIONS

“WP rugby has been run the same way for a long time so I can’t presume to tell them how to run it. But I don’t think coaching appointments should be made on rugby coaching ability when the job entails a lot more political stuff than rugby stuff. It’s becoming more and more that way, and is particularly tough in the year there is a WP election.

“When I took the job my predecessor Nick Mallett wished me luck and said I would need it. I didn’t know what he meant by that, but I do now. If you want to be the Manchester United of rugby, or even where the Bulls were a few years ago, you have to have everyone pulling in the same direction.

“If a player in the Stormers set-up talks out against the Stormers it’s my duty to discipline him. Obviously I can have no control over the media or public’s right to say what they like, but within the organisation everyone should be seen to be positive, right from the young guy just out of school who first comes onto contract through to the president of the union.

“To introduce a culture of excellence we all need to be pulling together and have the same goal. But at WP I sometimes got the impression there were officials who wanted us to lose as it would suit their agenda.”

Erasmus said that it was in the hope that the WP elected officials would stop interfering with the other coaches if he parted ways with the Stormers that he tendered his resignation.

“I sat down with the Stormers management guys that I brought into the set-up four weeks ago and told them that I had made a decision to resign in the hope that by doing that the interference would stop. I said it was my hope they would then be allowed to get on with what they are employed to do, which is to coach winning rugby,” said Erasmus.

“I have spoken to many previous WP coaches and it seems I encountered the same problems they did. In my meeting with the Stormers management we agreed there has been a steady improvement in the four years, but I felt that even if we did everything right from the coaching side we were never going to progress further until such time as all the other stuff away from the field was sorted out.

“It’s hard to point fingers and pinpoint the problems when you are within the system. You are then just accused of complaining and trying to further your own agenda. But I have nothing to gain from talking now so it is easier to do so.

ATTITUDES MUST CHANGE

"I felt that by ending my association with WP eight months ahead of the contracted period I would be able to have my say and hopefully by doing that I would help the situation for Allister Coetzee and the other coaches.

“Hopefully they will win a trophy in the next eight months and by doing that convince the officials what can be achieved if there is no interference. If that were to happen it would be a big step forward for WP rugby.”

Erasmus and his coaches were criticised by elected officials on a couple of occasions during his tenure, and it is also known that there was a severe personality clash between Erasmus and some of those elected officials.

At the time he resigned he knew there were officials who weren’t making it any secret that their mission was to get him out of his job.

But Erasmus did not want to attack anyone personally and he said he preferred to see his resignation as a positive step that would alert the decision-makers to the obstacles they were putting in the way of WP’s quest to become a successful union.

“I just want them to get it right as there is so much potential here,” said Erasmus.

“After taking the Cheetahs to the Currie Cup title we went to ask for money from one of the stake-holders and were told that we must accept being a big fish in a small pond. That was when I decided to leave Bloemfontein. I needed to move to a union where I could take on the challenge of trying to be successful at Super Rugby level.

"At WP there is a desire to be the best in Super Rugby, but attitudes have to change.”

Comments