One of the things about Brexit that young British people regret most (and there are many) is the loss of the possibility of packing their bags and spending a few years in Barcelona, Florence or Stockholm with an Erasmus scholarship. In fact, if, as seems likely, Labor wins next year's elections, a plan they have in mind to make the breakup less bitter is to find a way (it is not easy nor would it be cheap) for the United Kingdom to participate in that program. of exchange.
Scholarships can be used to study and work in many places, but not in Cape Town, Durban or Johannesburg. South Africa does however have its own Erasmus, Rassie Erasmus, one of rugby's great brains, who four years ago took the Springboks from sixth place in the rankings to world champions, crushing England in a memorable final in Yokohama. They are not the favorites to keep the scepter at the Stade de France, but underestimating them is as dangerous as bathing in one of those Australian beaches frequented by sharks.
The Erasmus program is all about promoting education, but this Erasmus in the southern hemisphere is not exactly polite, at least with the referees. Twice he has been suspended for harshly criticizing the whistle men, most recently involving England's Wayne Barnes after a match against New Zealand. The reaction on social media to his comments on Twitter was so furious that the referee even received death threats for himself and his family. He is something like the Norwegian Tom Henning Ovrebo after the Champions League semi-final with Iniesta's goal, but with a much tougher skin, because he did not retire.
The Erasmus thing with the Springboks was veni, vidi, vinci. He remained as coach for just over a year, made them champions and became South Africa's director of rugby, their strong man, the one who plans, develops the strategy, chooses the team, makes all the important decisions and makes the statements from his office with View of Table Mountain in Plattekloof, a neighborhood east of Cape Town. So much so that the coach (in practice his second), Jacques Nienaber, goes completely unnoticed. He doesn't mind playing the role of the villain, a kind of José Mourinho of the oval ball.
It is said that Rassie Erasmus (50 years old) has no friends, although Nienaber would be the closest thing to a faithful squire after having done military service together and shared the bench of Munster in Ireland and the Springboks. But from time to time you see a human side to him, like when he shed tears in front of the television cameras telling the story of Makazole Mapimpi (one of the heroes of the World Cup in Japan), his hard childhood and the hardships he had to endure. to put on the South African jersey (as a child he lost his parents and siblings, and was raised by his grandmother).
Injured in a match against Argentina, Mapimpi is not part of the Springboks defending the world title in France (in the group stage they lost an epic match 13-8 against Ireland, one of the favorites). It's a big loss because he has the honor of having scored at least one try against every team they've faced. But Erasmus does have instead the very fast and diminutive Cheslin Kolbe, and the veteran flanker Pieter-Steph du Toit, who was a mere substitute until shortly before the World Cup four years ago.
Erasmus did not believe in him, he said that “he played rugby as a hobby, not with passion”, like someone who gets a scholarship to go tourism. Anyone can make mistakes.
