'People say we don't care what others think - we do'

South Africa are trying to change perceptions, charismatic director of rugby Rassie Erasmus tells Harry Latham-Coyle

- Harry Latham-Coyle

The Springboks are on a charm offensive. South Africa have won two World Cups, a British & Irish Lions series and added a rare Rugby Championship crown this summer to further cement their place as the rulers of the rugby realm. Yet outside of their homeland, there is a sense of a side not feted widely, as much loathed as liked.

And everyone wants to be loved. “You don’t want to make other people unhappy,” Springboks supremo Rassie Erasmus admits. “You don’t want people not to like you. You don’t want people to think you are stubborn. You don’t want people to think you are arrogant, especially if you see the characters in this team.

“It has been years, from the Bakkies Botha era, that [people have said] we are bullies who don’t really care what people think. But we do. I care what people think about the players because they are very good guys. They can’t take the blame for what I have done or said or not said. I hope the world sees me trying to change.”

In Erasmus’s six years in charge – some as head coach, some as director of rugby – he has been the fascinating figure at the heart of a transformed team. Having arrived at a low ebb, the 2019 triumph united a side and a nation; four years later, in France last October, the Springboks did it again.