Ireland legend Peter O\u2019Mahony has revealed some of the unique traits Rassie Erasmus possesses, which has helped him to become one of the best coaches in the modern game.<\/b><\/p>\n
The 52-year-old has guided the Springboks to back-to-back world titles, with many of the things he did at Munster being taken home to South Africa when he became the national team\u2019s director of rugby in December 2017.<\/p>\n
Erasmus<\/a> joined the Irish heavyweights midway through 2016 and departed 18 months later but, despite that relatively short time at the province, he still left a significant impression on O\u2019Mahony.<\/a><\/p>\n Appearing on The Good, The Bad and The Rugby podcast alongside ex-England players James Haskell and Mike Tindall, he was asked by the latter: \u201cIs he as nuts as he comes across?\u201d<\/p>\n O\u2019Mahony responded: \u201cYeah, he\u2019s completely mental, like\u201d, before explaining why he made a significant impact, particularly at what was an extremely difficult time for Munster.<\/p>\n \u2018Exactly what Munster needed\u2019<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s mad but was exactly what we needed at the time,\u201d the former Ireland captain said.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen he came in Axel (Anthony Foley) was there and obviously when Axel passed we were completely lost. He hadn\u2019t really planned on coaching at all.<\/p>\n \u201cEven when Axel was there, he was up in the HPC (high performance centre) and he would look on \u2013 he wouldn\u2019t be on the pitch.<\/p>\n \u201cThen Axel passed away and Rassie had to take the forwards, but he was just the exact coach we needed at the time. We needed someone to get rid of the bull**** that was in the club.<\/p>\n \u201cHe went hard at basics, he went hard at people turning up to training properly and he was just the tonic Munster needed at the time. He was brilliant.<\/p>\n \u201cUnbelievably different way of going about things, if you compare him to a Joe Schmidt or Andy Farrell \u2013 a completely different character \u2013 but incredibly impressive style.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2018Full package\u2019 Springboks on course for World Cup hat-trick as Wales legend hails \u2018box-office\u2019 Rassie Erasmus and sounds \u2018scary\u2019 warning to rivals<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n Erasmus a brilliant motivator<\/p>\n O\u2019Mahony also revealed what specifically made him so effective, particularly in the man-management and motivational aspects of coaching.<\/p>\n \u201cThere were a couple of things,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cHe takes a huge amount of pressure off the players, so he\u2019ll take all the media pressure off, there would be zero media pressure on you because he\u2019ll be creating hassle on it, so it\u2019ll all be directed at him or if there\u2019s a loss, he\u2019ll take it on the nose.<\/p>\n \u201cThe other thing is that his emotional side of winding you up for stuff is incredibly good, he\u2019ll have stories that happened to him in his career, he\u2019ll have experiences.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve heard some of the stuff he\u2019s said to the South Africans in some of their documentaries that he said with us, incredibly powerful stories and stuff you couldn\u2019t but react to in a positive way.<\/p>\n \u201cAt the same time, you compare him to Johann [van Graan], and Johann had a very open-door policy, whereas Rassie\u2019s door was firmly closed.<\/p>\n \u201cHe would open the door if you had a serious problem, it was, \u2018try and sort it out a few times yourself and then come to me\u2019. But he was brilliant even for us.\u201d<\/p>\n Jean de Villiers\u2019 warning to Rassie Erasmus over ageing Springboks who can become \u2018a very big problem\u2019<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n Rassie\u2019s no BS<\/p>\n Haskell put it to the Ireland great that Erasmus was \u201cdictatorial\u201d and was the person \u201cdefinitely in charge\u201d, to which the 36-year-old duly responded: \u201cThere was no question there\u201d.<\/p>\n However, it was ultimately part of the South African\u2019s ability to rid the team of any potential excuses, just like he has done in the Springboks<\/a> set-up, as O\u2019Mahony explained.<\/p>\n \u201cI remember when he first came in and he said: \u2018What do you need? What\u2019s going on at the club?\u2019 He set up stuff like family boxes. As good as Munster is at stuff, there was no partners\u2019 boxes,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cHe put on a creche for guys with kids. He was like, \u2018What do you need to not worry about anything else so you could perform at the weekend?\u2019 We were like, \u2018we need this, that and the other\u2019, and he went, \u2018done, I\u2019ll sort that, you leave that with me\u2019.<\/p>\n \u201cNo excuses, no bull****. There were fellas who used to spend time on the sideline with knocks on a Monday who didn\u2019t fancy training, so he put a tag on them.<\/p>\n \u201cYou can see the same policy with South Africa, if you can\u2019t train Monday, you\u2019re not available for selection for the weekend. You rock up Monday, even if you\u2019re 60 per cent or 70 per cent, if you\u2019re not on the pitch, you\u2019re not being selected.\u201d<\/p>\n