Title statement

Rassie : stories of life and rugby / Rassie Erasmus with David O'sullivan.

ISBN

978-1-77010-868-4

Publisher (Imprint)

Johannesburg : Macmillan South Africa, 2023.

Subject - Topical term

Rugby Union football players |zSouth Africa |vBiography

Subject - Topical term

Rugby football coaches |zSouth Africa |vBiography

Call Number

920.710968 |21

Other call number

ENF 920.710968 ERA

Author - Personal Name

Erasmus, Rassie.

Physical description

311 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates

General note

Includes index

General note

Also available in Afrikaans under title: Rassie : stories oor rugby en die lewe

Added entry - Personal name

O'sullivan, David.

Summary

Rassie Erasmus has been called a genius. He's been called reckless. All his life, he's done things differently. Now, with his trademark candour, Rassie talks openly about his adventures and misadventures. He reveals the turmoil of living with an alcoholic father and growing up in the conservative town of Despatch. He looks back on an exemplary career as a player, whose innate rugby instincts, ability to read a game differently, and appetite for hard work set him apart. While his teammates relaxed, he preferred to watch hours of video to devise winning strategies. When given the opportunity to lead his country as Springbok captain, he refused this honour. Rassie recalls how he became an important cog in Nick Mallett's record-breaking Springbok team of the late 1990s. He remembers the anguish of the 1999 World Cup and the devastating injuries that cut short his playing career. He discusses his revolutionary coaching methods, which were initially laughed off and then eagerly adopted, how he fought the rugby establishment at the Stormers and earned the grudging respect of Irish fans at Munster. Rassie talks about his greatest contribution to South African rugby, appointing its first black captain, Siya Kolisi, without much fanfare or controversy, as his bold plans for effective racial transformation of the national team achieved immediate success, culminating in triumph at the 2019 Rugby World Cup.