Lucky Maree
Rassie Erasmus will not easily forget his 51st birthday on 5 November 2023.
If he lives another 50 years, he will find it hard to top the year he has had.
The last eight weeks have seen him and Jacques Nienaber guiding the Springboks to a second World Cup victory, making it South Africa’s fourth win.
Between himself and Nienaber they faced a tough route to the final. They beat Scotland in the pool matches but then lost to Ireland. But in the finals they beat France, England and New Zealand over three weekends, and as we all know, by one point each.
Perhaps history will remember this World Cup as the toughest any country has ever faced.
And it wasn’t as if the off-field events made it any easier. If injuries are an indication, we remember that Lukhanyo Am got injured before even leaving for France and Malcolm Marx and Makazole Mapimpi were so seriously injured that they returned to South Africa.
The two coaches and the senior players can look back on a masterclass performance of strategy and tactics, so much so that many of the other teams and coaches were left howling and crying foul.
But the World Cup is over and the trophy has come home to South Africa, but you get the feeling it is not over yet for Erasmus.
Nienaber is on his way to Leinster and Erasmus, for the foreseeable future will stay as head coach but that’s all we know.
What he still has up his sleeve, nobody can guess. We can only watch and see what he will get up to next.
Pictured above: Rassie Erasmus enjoying a walk with his 83-year-old mum
Image source: X
