When you’re the Springbok coach, winning alone isn’t everything, because there are also other boxes that must be checked.

That’s a good thing, too, because Rassie Erasmus’ Boks only racked up a 50% win record in 2018, which is less than the 61,5% win record under Allister Coetzee in 2017.

Still, we did beat the All Blacks in New Zealand, and a number of youngsters came through the ranks during 2018 and excelled in the Bok jumper.

Putting aside the Bok’s win record, there’s the ever-present matter of transformation to consider, and on this front Rassie came up short.

During a recent interview with SuperSport’s Matthew Pearce, he defended his numbers, saying he wouldn’t “cheapen” the process. Here’s Sport24:

Erasmus, in his first year as Springbok coach, was given a target of ensuring that 45% of his selections in 2018 were made up of players of colour.

That number will rise to 50% in 2019.  In 2018, the Boks carded 38.3% on the transformation front…

“There was a clear target of 45% this year and next year there is a target of 50%. I didn’t reach the 45%,” Erasmus said, before going into detail around the topic.

In what is perhaps the most honest assessment of how the process works, Rassie detailed exactly how team management came up short of that 45% target:

“We all know when we sit there in a team meeting that what has happened in the past is that if a black hooker would get injured and you would have to put a white hooker in there, then you’d have to drop a white winger and put a black winger there.

“That’s when transformation becomes a joke and when people, fans, black players and white players get upset.

“You’re now sitting in front of a team and taking this guy off and that guy off to get the numbers right.”

In the final test match of the year, the matchday squad of 23 had only eight players of colour, but Rassie stressed the importance of exposure and squad depth:

[He said] that such exposure to the international stage was more important than reaching numbers.

“But if you’ve got a long-term vision in terms of giving the guys exposure slowly … we are trying to create a squad where we don’t have to move things around when players get injured,” he said.

“That’s when the whole transformation thing loses credibility…

“I’ll rather take the blame and then people can say ‘Rassie, one of your KPIs is not achieved’. I will say ‘boys, here is the depth we’ve created’.

“That’s why I feel that the transformation goal has been achieved … maybe not the number. I must take the flack for the number, but I’m not going to cheapen transformation because the number couldn’t be reached.”

He might get a little leeway in year one, but I’d say the 50% target for 2019 will be non-negotiable. The Springboks get to take 31 players to the World Cup.

Talk also turned to Siya Kolisi as captain, and Rassie was quick to shoot down suggestions that he had been given the honour as a way to score political points.

This from a second Sport24 piece:

“When Siya was appointed my plan was not to do a show on what it meant politically. I was looking at what was best for the team … I didn’t expect this massive boom around Siya being captain,” Erasmus said in the interview.

“I don’t think Siya expected it. He didn’t just have the job of being the Springbok captain on the field … he had all these other things happening around him and if I knew that, I probably would have done it a little bit slower with him and phased him in as captain.

“There are a few people, and I really don’t understand why, who have said that it is just a show for us and that he is not really the captain.

“It’s almost challenging Siya’s intelligence for me. Are people really saying that Siya is stupid enough to sit there and not really be the captain and we’re doing this all for show?

“This is a guy who sits in my office every day, we discuss tactics every day, we tour together. It’s almost like people who say things like that are challenging his integrity because we love him as our leader and the way he is doing it.”

I still get the chills when thinking about the day Kolisi first led the Boks onto the field as skipper. Not a bad result, either.

Rassie also admitted that a 50% win record isn’t good enough (more on that here), and was honest about quitting as head coach after the World Cup:

“I’m only head coach until the World Cup next year,” he said.

Erasmus has a six-year contract as Director of Rugby that would take him through to the World Cup in 2023.

“The six years (contract) is not there to protect myself … it’s there to protect SA Rugby. As we all know, if I don’t perform then the people will vote me out,” he said.

The Director of Rugby role requires to work with all structures under the SA Rugby banner, including the junior sides, women’s sides and even the unions and franchises.

It is a role that is considered hugely important to the future of South African rugby, but it is one that Erasmus has had to sideline in 2018 given his head coach responsibilities.

“When I was appointed Director of Rugby … at that stage I still thought Allister Coetzee was continuing. The leadership asked Allister to step down and then asked me to step in,” he said.

“The moment I am finished with this (head coach role) and for the next six months, I will be involved with them (the other SA Rugby structures) a lot.”

And so begins the speculation as to who will take over once Rassie steps down.

By the way, if you want to get your sick days in early, here are the Springbok group games for next year’s World Cup in Japan:

Cue the day drinking.

[sources:sport24&sport24]