How South Africa rose to the top of world rugby Premium
The Hindu
South Africa's historic 4th Rugby World Cup win was a result of years of planning, left-field thinking, systemic change and a culture of winning. Rassie Erasmus and Jacques Nienaber's partnership led to the first black Test captain, Siya Kolisi, lifting the trophy twice. Their revolutionary shake-up of the system opened the way for underprivileged children to play the game, and their tactics, such as the 'bomb squad', have been copied by others. The victory has unified the nation and given hope to those from disadvantaged areas. Erasmus and Nienaber may return to lead the Boks in their quest for a hat-trick of titles, with Kolisi still hungry to play.
Now that the dust has settled on South Africa’s historic triumph at the Rugby World Cup, it’s a little easier to view the record fourth title in clear light and assess its impact — on rugby as well as on the country. The 12-11 victory over New Zealand in last month’s final was the result of years of planning, left-field thinking, systemic change and a well-developed culture of winning.
South African director of rugby Rassie Erasmus and coach Jacques Nienaber insisted they weren’t “geniuses”, but they clearly got a lot right. Winning back-to-back World Cup titles is incredibly difficult — the mighty All Blacks (2011, 2015) are the only other outfit to have done it.
“I’m not saying we’re geniuses!” said Nienaber, who took over from Erasmus as head coach after the latter had led South Africa to glory in Japan in 2019. “We don’t try and be creative and think out of the box. It’s not genius, it’s just that the players we have have the ability to give us different tactical viewpoints. Players who understand their roles, don’t have egos and buy into it. That gives us the opportunity to maybe go a little bit different than normal.”
Erasmus and Nienaber appear polar opposites, the latter the straight man in a comedy double act, the former the charismatic scene stealer. But they have worked together — first as head coach and assistant coach, and then as director and head coach — to turn around a shambolic Springboks side. During the course of their partnership, Siya Kolisi, the man Erasmus picked as South Africa’s first black Test captain, has lifted the World Cup trophy twice.
Erasmus, who reached the 1999 World Cup semifinal as a player, divides opinion — he has made ill-judged remarks, ranted against referees and courted controversy, but he has also had a significant impact on the development of the sport in South Africa. His revolutionary shake-up of the system opened the way for under-privileged children under 15 to play the game.
“I wanted to help people avoid embarrassment for what we’ve done — not just apartheid but how we tried to fix things which ended up embarrassing black and white people,” he told the Guardian. The introduction of the Elite Player Development (EPD) in 2013 bore fruit, with a couple of the players forming part of the 2019 World Cup-winning team.
“My greatest moment was not holding the World Cup, it was watching those players create and score tries in the final and trust each other. The EPD was my biggest achievement,” he said.
Asian Games champion Avinash Sable opened his season in the 3000m steeple chase with a silver in the Portland Track Festival, a World Athletics Continental Tour bronze event, in Oregon on Saturday. He clocked 8:21.85s. Asian champion Parul Chaudhary took the bronze in the women’s 3000m steeple chase in a season-best 9:31.38s. Former Asian bronze medallist Sanjivani Jadhav struck gold in the women’s 10,000m in 32:22.77s, a time which was a second off her personal best, while Seema was sixth in 32:55.91s.