The weird and wonderful world of Rassie and his affinity for the Irish

Rassie Erasmus has a putting green on his rooftop garden, his bulldog Franks gets angry when he sees the colour red, Rassie’s perceived hatred of Ireland is a myth, and Rassie wears a watch engraved with the words “Choose Your Own Reality”.

Those are just some of the Springbok coach’s idiosyncrasies revealed in the first episode of his new podcast series called Rassie+.

It might have been better named “The weird and wonderful world of Rassie”, but then he does actually discuss rugby on the show. However, when you an eccentric genius, you can’t help but digress, and let’s be honest, it is the colourful titbits that most entertain the audience.

Rassie’s guest in the first episode was Springbok prodigal son, Felix Jones, the Irishman who left the Bok management after the 2023 World Cup and took up a position with the England rugby team.

That soured quickly though and Jones resigned from Steve Borthwick’s staff after just seven months. No reasons have been given publicly but it is understood that there was a clash of coaching philosophies.

Jones is one of the most highly rated coaches in the game and it is believed that he immediately had offers to join the coaching staffs of the British and Irish Lions, Ireland, and his old club Munster.

Of course, there was also an offer from Erasmus and of all the teams Jones could have picked, it is the Springboks.

That says plenty about the Springbok set-up that Erasmus has created, not to mention a winning culture that has won everything in rugby and Jones’ decision to return suggests he has full faith in the Boks winning the World Cup for a third consecutive time.

With Erasmus already having a full coaching complement, he created a position for Jones. He is to be a “roving” coach that will assist the various assistants.

Jones, a former fullback for Munster, has experience in all facets of the game except scrumming and lineouts, so he is equipped to add value across the coaching spectrum.

Rassie says Jones will be “Mr One Percent” because he will add polish to the various areas but will never step on the toes of the likes of Tony Brown (attack) and Jerry Flannery (defence).

Erasmus first met Jones when he and Jacques Nienaber coached at Munster in 2016 and 2017. Jones had retired a few years earlier as a player because of injury and was an exciting young coach.

When Erasmus took the Springbok job in 2018, one of the first people he hired was Jones. Interestingly, last year he hired another Munster coach that impressed him, Flannery, a former Ireland hooker turned defence coach.

This Munster connection is special to Erasmus because he says his two years in Ireland were among the best of his life. He says he learned a great deal about rugby and life.

Not long after Rassie joined Munster, the club was rocked to the core by a tragedy. The coach Axel Foley died of heart failure in a Paris hotel room a day before a match.

The night before he died, Foley sent Rassie a message on his phone about an idea for a podcast. It was about creating your own reality and shutting out the outside noise.

Rassie was taken by this suggestion and when he left Munster for the Boks, Jones and Flannery gave him an inscribed watch.

Erasmus has a deep love for Ireland and the Irish but somehow there is a public perception that it is the opposite.

With a twinkle in his eye, Rassie said: “The media built up this thing that I hate Ireland. It is completely wrong but, you know what, it is a good thing. It is good for the game and adds spice to our matches against Ireland.

“Rivalry is good. We are in the entertainment industry.”