{"id":723021,"date":"2026-08-01T16:13:09","date_gmt":"2026-08-01T16:13:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/723021\/"},"modified":"2026-08-01T16:13:09","modified_gmt":"2026-08-01T16:13:09","slug":"springboks-rassie-erasmus-reveals-my-biggest-fear-thats-my-nightmare","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/723021\/","title":{"rendered":"Springboks: Rassie Erasmus reveals \u2018my biggest fear, that’s my nightmare\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Springboks<\/a> boss Rassie Erasmus has revealed his biggest fear coaching the back-to-back Rugby World Cup champions. It was 2018 when the South African came back from coaching Munster in Ireland to rescue the damaged reputation of his country\u2019s national team.<\/p>\n

After finishing third at Rugby World Cup 2015 under Heyneke Meyer, Allister Coetzee took charge of the team and the two years that followed were difficult. Of the 24 Test matches played, only 11 were won as they were beaten on 11 occasions and drew twice.<\/p>\n

That left the Springboks with the reputation of being a losing side, and this is the nightmare situation that Erasmus doesn\u2019t want to return to. He can accept his team losing matches here and there, but the fear of a return to the bad habit of losing as frequently as winning is a situation that haunts him.<\/p>\n

Appearing on Smash Sports<\/a> with Siya Kolisi, the Springboks boss explained that the potential loss of the feel-good factor that rugby has in South African society is what drives him on to always be trying to improve his team.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re all smiling and it\u2019s going lekker\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI can tell you what I never want to happen,\u201d he began when asked if he ever has nightmares. \u201cWell, I hope it never happens. One of my biggest fears is, it\u2019s not of losing; I hate losing. Every Saturday I want us to win. But it\u2019s that satisfaction of, not the joy, that lekker feeling when we\u2019re doing well, and the people are all happy and we\u2019re all smiling and it\u2019s going lekker.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know we\u2019re going to lose somewhere and somewhere. Hopefully it [winning] doesn\u2019t stop ever, but realistically somewhere you must go through depths or coaching team changes or whatever.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m so afraid of that feeling going away, of what it means for South Africans. And it\u2019s not a soppy thing to say the right thing on a podcast; I\u2019m talking about that feeling when you drive, and you stop at the petrol station, and that guy comes and he high fives you and it\u2019s not sucking up. It\u2019s high-fiving; I\u2019m so nervous of that, not going away; I\u2019m saying when we\u2019re not winning.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we\u2019re not winning, I know times up, bro. Move on. It\u2019s that reality. But what we feel now, just when that goes away, I wouldn\u2019t know how to handle it if we go there. That would be my biggest fear; that\u2019s my nightmare. Not the tap on the shoulder (to go), it\u2019s the satisfaction of how it feels now and looks now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Springboks squad: Five takeaways as Rassie Erasmus hands out \u2018final auditions\u2019 ahead of Rugby\u2019s Greatest Rivalry<\/a><\/p>\n

Long-serving skipper Kolisi<\/a> recalled the difficult era before Erasmus took charge, when the Springboks were reputationally in the mud. \u201cI know what it was like when it [the feeling of satisfaction] wasn\u2019t there. It was painful<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was hard going to a stadium; this is a team that you\u2019ve always dreamed of playing for, and nobody wants to come and watch it, burn your jersey and stuff there; that was a difficult period.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut what we give people now, it\u2019s not more people coming to say congratulations, it\u2019s just how happy people are. I see South Africans living in first-world countries and they say we walk tall because you know\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

Since successfully retaining the Rugby World Cup in 2023, the Springboks<\/a> have won 25 of their 30 Test matches and are currently on a nine-match winning streak ahead of next Saturday\u2019s clash away to Argentina before the start of their four-Test, Rugby\u2019s Greatest Rivalry series with the All Blacks<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Stretching this winning run into double figures isn\u2019t what stresses Erasmus out; it\u2019s ensuring that he keeps doing what he can to ensure the Springboks retain their restored reputation and don\u2019t ever get tagged as a side that generally loses its matches.<\/p>\n

All Blacks: Dave Rennie on \u2018phenomenal\u2019 Rassie Erasmus, \u2018time out\u2019 Ardie Savea and why Greatest Rivalry is \u2018completely different to a World Cup\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cWhen other people are not thinking of why would we not be winning, I\u2019m thinking this could influence us, this could influence us. When it was in the old age, it was what\u2019s the best lineout move, what\u2019s the best scrum move? Now we\u2019ve got Tony (Brown) to do that best, we\u2019ve got Jerry (Flannery)\u2026<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not the biggest worry; the thing that I\u2019m thinking of the most to get right, not that it worries me but that I\u2019m sure when we wake up tomorrow morning, I hope Jerry\u2019s thought about this or when this social media post went out or this thing, I\u2019m thinking can that influence it\u2026<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m telling you now, I don\u2019t even wonder about it \u2013 it\u2019s a fact that if we lose, six months after that, it\u2019s gone [the current feeling of satisfaction]. That\u2019s the reality. I\u2019m talking about if we become a losing team. I\u2019m not saying a game. I\u2019m saying if we get tagged a losing team.<\/p>\n

Want more from Planet Rugby? Add us as\u00a0a preferred source on Google to your favourites list<\/a>\u00a0for world-class coverage you can trust.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t even have five per cent doubt in me; I\u2019ve been part of it. At the Cheetahs in Bloemfontein, we did a survey that they said you can\u2019t fill the stadium. Seventy per cent of the town had to come there if you want to fill the stadium, and in 29 years we didn\u2019t win the Currie Cup. We went and we won the Currie Cup; we filled it seven times in a row in orange.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo everybody wants to feel part of something successful, but the moment you\u2019re not successful, people won\u2019t want to associate with something that\u2019s not successful. That for me is not scary. That\u2019s the fact, and that keeps me tomorrow morning: let\u2019s have a plan. Let\u2019s have a plan tomorrow evening. I have no doubt about that.\u201d<\/p>\n

READ MORE: Springboks v All Blacks: Rugby\u2019s Greatest Rivalry is a \u2018throwback\u2019 but also a modern piece of scheduling art<\/a><\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Springboks boss Rassie Erasmus has revealed his biggest fear coaching the back-to-back Rugby World Cup champions. It was…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":723022,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[348,3482,50,7196,5903,4247,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-723021","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-home-page","tag-internationals","tag-news","tag-rassie-erasmus","tag-rugby","tag-south-africa","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/723021","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=723021"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/723021\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/723022"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=723021"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=723021"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=723021"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}