Rassie Erasmus and Jacques Nienaber
Photo by Steve Haag/Gallo Images
If there was any emotion surrounding their pending parting of ways after the Rugby World Cup, Jacques Nienaber and Rassie Erasmus weren’t showing it during their last media briefing before leaving their training base of Corsica for Toulon.
To borrow from a saying, which became synonymous with their six-year tenure in charge of the Springboks, head coach Nienaber and Erasmus – his director of rugby – kept the main thing the main thing and only entertained one question about the end of a working relationship set in motion when they first met as two kids just out of high school at an army base in Bloemfontein in 1991.
Nienaber – Erasmus’ lieutenant for their whole journey – will be joining Irish club side Leinster as defence coach at the conclusion of the Boks’ title defence in France.
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