Former Munster captain Peter O’Mahony has revealed why Rassie Erasmus’ departure from the Irish club hit him so hard.
Erasmus joined Munster as director of rugby in July 2016 and took on greater coaching responsibility following the sudden death of head coach Anthony ‘Axel’ Foley later that year.
His appointment as SA Rugby director of rugby was announced in June 2017 and he left Munster at the end of that year, along with Nienaber. In March 2018, Erasmus replaced Allister Coetzee as Springbok head coach.
“I loved working with him,” O’Mahony said on the Irish Independent’s Indo Sport podcast while discussing his new book, All In. “He’s mad, but he’s good mad, and we got on well.
“He had a great little thing going with Jacques [Nienaber, defence coach] for a long time. Obviously, I say in the book how disappointed I was when he left.
“The main reason for that is I knew he was good, and obviously he’s gone back home since and won two World Cups, so I wasn’t far off.
“The reason I was most annoyed is I could see that he was going to make a difference to us, and we really needed that bit of direction.
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“I was hurt because I trusted him and I was all into his game plan, and I was driving that for him.
“When I look back now and I put myself in his boots, if I felt that I could go home and make a difference in the national team and make them a special team again, then it’d be the first thing I’d do.
“It’s business. Sport is ruthless and that’s what happens, that’s the way it goes.
“But it was difficult for me because, as I said, I knew he was going to make a difference to us. We were just starting to get there with him and when he left, that hurt.
“But looking back, of course it was the only thing he could do, really.”
The flanker, who earned 197 caps for Munster and 114 for Ireland, also recalled Erasmus’ ability to fire up his players.
“He’d have all these little angles. Incredible motivator, though. You’ve seen some of it.
“There were days he really did set us up well. You’d be ready for war some days going out for him, to be fair.”
Photo: Sam Barnes/Sportsfile via Getty Images
The post Irish legend: Rassie hurt me appeared first on SA Rugby magazine.
Former Ireland flank Peter O’Mahony has revealed why Rassie Erasmus’ departure from Munster hit him so hard.
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