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Over the weekend, reports emerged that Rassie Erasmus, currently SA Rugby’s director of rugby, was in talks to coach the English national team.
Our World Cup-winning coach was at Murrayfield to watch the Six Nations clash between England and Scotland on Saturday, and the Rapport said that he was in talks to replace current English coach Eddie Jones, whose contract ends next year.
Rassie has a four-year contract with SA Rugby that also expires next year, although the same report says a clause in his contract would allow him to leave if he landed a job with England’s RFU.
That would really sting – much like it stung when Eddie Jones left the Stormers and Western Province at the last minute to coach England a few years back.
Responding to the reports, Rassie was direct and to the point, setting up a Twitter account (confirmed as genuine by SA Rugby), and sharing a video of his speech to the Springboks before the Rugby World Cup final:
SA Rugby Mag has since uploaded the speech to YouTube, so let’s watch it there:
At first, many were apprehensive that the account was genuine (there are a few parody accounts out there), so Rassie shared two more videos:
— Rassie Erasmus (@RassieRugby) February 9, 2020
Alright – we believe you.
Questionable soundtracks, but always good to get a look behind the scenes.
In response to the reports of Rassie’s interest in coaching England, the RFU stated that information was 100% inaccurate. Again from SA Rugby Mag:
A spokesperson for the RFU has since told the Press Association that they ‘strongly dismiss the story’, while RFU chief executive Bill Sweeney also issued a statement that left little doubt: ‘The reports are 100 percent inaccurate. There has been no meeting. There have been no talks whatsoever about any position at the RFU.’
As it is, it’s widely expected that [Eddie] Jones and the RFU will agreed to an extension as long as results do not nose-dive over the next 16 months, and Jones still has the desire to lead the national team.
England managed to beat Scotland 13-6 in a tightly-fought contest, although it’s an incident from before the match that has proven to be the biggest talking point.
Here’s the Guardian:
The Six Nations organisers have launched an investigation into the incident before England’s Calcutta Cup victory over Scotland when a member of England’s coaching staff was struck on the head by a beer bottle.
Eddie Jones lashed out after his side’s scrappy 13-6 win, accusing Scotland supporters of lacking respect after England’s head of performance, Neil Craig, was hit shortly after getting off the team bus at Murrayfield. Scotland supporters were also seen making obscene hand gestures at the England squad.
Jones, who was also deeply unimpressed by the crowd’s repeated booing of Owen Farrell as he kicked at goal, said: “We weren’t expecting beer bottles to be thrown. It’s a pretty good achievement, throwing beer bottles, you’ve got to be brave to throw a beer bottle.”
I can’t find a video of a bottle being thrown, but as for those “offensive hand gestures”:
Hostile reception for England at Murrayfield. Eddie Jones’ right-hand man Neil Craig hit on the head by a plastic beer bottle thrown from the upper gantry… pic.twitter.com/mdiNIYRvKE
— Nik Simon (@Nik_Simon88) February 8, 2020
That’s par for the course, really.
Many Scottish fans are arguing that a bottle wasn’t thrown, but was rather blown off the upper deck before landing on the bus, and then blowing off the bus and onto the head of Craig;
Here’s a very different angle of “that bottle throw” which certainly appears to back up the suggestion it was blown down rather than thrown… pic.twitter.com/gpn3gUZWee
— The Pen (@thepenGW) February 9, 2020
What do I make of all of this? Who cares – as long as Rassie isn’t lost to SA Rugby, we let the Six Nations folks fight their own battles.
[sources:sarugbymag&guardian]
