Rassie Erasmus: 'We understand we are the red meat that you guys want to eat'

South Africa head coach Rassie Erasmus. Pic: Bryan Keane/Inpho

Rassie Erasmus knows what the Springboks have walked into this week.

His truncated spell with Munster had already armed him with insider knowledge, as had the presence of three Irishmen on his coaching staff, but the Troy Parrott Show last Sunday has the country buzzing and primed for another possible giant-killing.

]Felix Jones and Jerry Flannery are part of the coaching arm, Paddy O’Sullivan is the performance analyst. All of them tuned in to that unforgettable World Cup qualifier in Budapest last weekend.

“We were in different stages [of travel], and some guys were in a plane, but they were watching the game,” said Erasmus. “Your guys just beat them. "So we know all about that, and the guys were really proud. For us, it's not a massive problem.

"I mean, we know what the vibes will be like on Saturday. It's fantastic. It's lekker. We appreciate what you're saying, we’re seeing it as much as a privilege, and we understand that we're the red meat that you guys want to eat."

The Boks have their own motivations this week.

The back-to-back world champions haven’t won in Dublin since 2012. It was a 38-3 pasting in Ballsbridge in 2016 that persuaded Erasmus to abandon project Munster and return home to turn around the fortunes of the national team.

They have lost four of five to Ireland since.

”Oh, it definitely comes up. I'm not going to lie to you and say it doesn't come up. I did win here as a player, (when South Africa beat Ireland 27-13 at Lansdowne Road in 1998) but that was many years ago. So that doesn't count and it wasn't at the Aviva.

“Me personally, I haven't won at the Aviva as a coach, even with Munster. We played the Scarlets in the Pro12 or Pro14 final and we lost here. When we played against Saracens in the European Cup we lost here. We've coached here three times and we haven't won here.

“So it's almost as if you want to fix something that can never be done and I'll be lying if I'm saying I know the headlines tomorrow. I want to fix this. No, it's not revenge.

“It's a nice competitive environment with a team that's always been the last two years in the top one to four in the world and it’s excitement where there's something we haven't done. and let's go and try and do it.” 

Erasmus played down the personal side to this chapter. This is not about him, he insisted, but there was an acceptance that a defeat to Ireland would be the difference between an exceptional year and an “average” one.

Win and they will likely add a northern tour Grand Slam to the Rugby Championship, retained a few months ago. Lose and, accepting that they will beat Wales next week, it will be 12 wins in 15 matches. An 80% win rate, yes, but that’s nothing to shout about for the Boks.

It is 2022 since he brought his Boks here and lost narrowly. He explained here that their sizable Japanese contingent might have been underdone that day but that this won’t be a problem so deep into the current window.

There was a by-now familiar praise for the Irish system, a reminisce on how he looked to import some of the thinking back to South Africa on his return, and compliments for an extending list of individual players.

And there was a reminder of the close margins that have separated the sides of late: in 2022 in Dublin, in Paris a year later and then in Durban two summers ago when Ciaran Frawley’s late drop goal squared the two-Test series.

Hunger isn’t confined to the home ranks.