Most impactful Springbok coach since 1992 - Final verdict

So I've spent quite a bit of time on this.... if you have no constructive criticism, stay away.

Based on win percentage and the quality of opposition, the strongest case can be made for Kitch Christie as the greatest Springbok coach post-1992, with Nick Mallett and Rassie Erasmus close contenders. However, when factoring in context, pressure, trophy significance, and opposition strength, Rassie Erasmus emerges as the most influential coach.

Here’s a breakdown to justify that claim:

Motivation for Best Springbok Coach: Rassie Erasmus

Why Rassie?

1. Won the 2019 Rugby World Cup just 18 months after taking over a team in disarray.
2. Beat top-tier nations in the World Cup knockout stages: Japan (hosts), Wales (ranked 2nd), England (hot favourites).
3. Restored national pride and unity through strong leadership.
4. Served as Director of Rugby in 2023, guiding Nienaber and the Boks to a second World Cup win.
5. Took bold tactical risks (e.g. 6-2 bench split, "Bomb Squad", video refereeing critique).
6. Beat the British & Irish Lions in 2021 (massive challenge, only every 12 years).

Comparative Table: Springbok Coaches Ranked by Key Criteria

Some titbits:

1. Kitch Christie remains the only Springbok coach with a perfect record, winning all 14 of his matches, including the 1995 Rugby World Cup.
2. Nick Mallett boasts a strong win percentage of 71%, leading the team to a record 17 consecutive Test victories during his tenure.
3. The coaching duo of Rassie Erasmus and Jacques Nienaber has been instrumental in South Africa's recent successes, including the 2019 and 2023 Rugby World Cup victories.
4. Heyneke Meyer and Jake White both achieved commendable win percentages of 66%, with White leading the team to a World Cup victory in 2007.

My Final Verdict:

While Kitch Christie remains the only unbeaten coach and won the 1995 World Cup, and Nick Mallett led the Boks to an unmatched 17-game win streak, Rassie Erasmus edges ahead due to:

1. The context of rebuilding a broken team.
2. Beating more Tier 1 nations in must-win games.
3. Innovating under pressure and reshaping modern Springbok identity.
4. Influencing success even when not head coach (2023).

Rassie Erasmus is the most impactful Springbok coach of the professional era.

(stats courtesy of: David Searle's book of everything that humakind needs to know -vol 2027)

Winning percentages are influenced by WC years. In 2019 Rasmus was 10/1….in 2024 he was 11/2. Remove 2023 from the Data, no other coach had 2 WCs and the win ratio drops to about 60%. Not good enough.

No innovation except gimmicks, no backline excellence….a turnaround of the Bok fortunes by going back to our traditional strengths which should never have been neglected. Competent, a good rapport with the players…..but lucky and benefitting from the enlarged talent pool of black players.

Well behind White and Mallett.

I know Rassie has won 2 RWCs but for me it will always be Nick Mallett.

That side of 1997/8/9 was in between two long periods when we were rubbish and Gary Teichmann's Springboks . . . Andre Venter, Henry Honiball, Joost van der Westhuizen, Krynauw Otto, Pieter Muller, Mark Andrews, Andre Snyman and so many others remain my favourite Springbok team of all time. They made us proud Springbok supporters again after (and before) such a long drought.

"No innovation except gimmicks"

It's like saying AB de Villiers reverse sweep is a gimmick!

I say... keep the gimmick coming if it helps us win!

Is the Bomb Squad a gimmick?

is Cheslin, Mapimpi and Arendse's strike rate a gimmick?

Moz, Im a HUGE admirer of both Nick and Jake... so i certainly won't bash their achievements (please note this), but...

You keep bashing down Rassie's achievements.

it's a bit childish.

"it's a bit incredibly childish"

Fixed.

Bwhahahahaha Beat me to it Rooi. How many more have to say it!?

Great post Chippo.

Dense, do you know of an Aussie band called Sons of the East? They're about to go on a world tour through Australia, Europe and the USA.

They're a trio from Sydney. Give them a listen. I'm going to their concert in Paris on 26 September and I literally can't wait.

Nope, I haven't heard of them didn't even know they existed until you mentioned them on here.

Yep I've listened to a few of the songs, get the feeling their music grows on you so I'll listen a while more.

Think there's a bit of Woody Guthrie in there.

Play us some of your favorites.

Enjoy the concert.

Thanks man!

Posting my favourites on the Sons of the East thread in the Trumpet.

'Onya!

"'Onya!"

Think I just threw up in my mouth a little.

Well, you can't deny any world cup winning coach as each coach had their own challenges. 95 was a completely different era, but to bring the boks back to the top of the world is something special, but then we crashed afterwards but only for Nick to pick us up, then we went through a few coaches and ended up with White, after that Snorre. Hard to credit him as the boks just got worse every year and we never really recovered from the mess he created. Meyer started well and had a good run until the wold cup year when he lost to Argentina and Japan. To me he was to robotic and became predictable and played awful rugby.

Then came Coetzee and how bad was he?!

Rassie Nienaber has done the most for the boks.

There will be dips every world cup cycle.

But I did love that Mallet era. Probably the best rugby we ever played.

But don't forget, as are the only team that ayes the all blacks twice every year. Then add Ireland that played away lost of the time. Our win ratio will take a dip.

Where as in the 6 nations, Ireland was very dominant and the rest of the teams were extremely poor. So if course their win ratio would always look good.

This year will be telling. Is that invincible era of the all blacks over now. So many teams have started to win in New Zealand and they have struggled for the last 6 years to assert themselves like they use to. But I will never write them off.

Rassie biggest test will actually be this year when we play NZ, France and Ireland away

I would love a flawless year but he won't get that if he keeps cycling through players.

We will slip a few this year...we need to be solid in NZ...

Your win % is wrong - Rassie is higher than 65%

Rassie walks it for me - by some distance

Ranked number 1 for as long as we have and back to back WC’s including the most difficult WC road to victory just can’t be matched

Its not even close - Mallett definitely second followed by Kitch

Actually I stand corrected Chip….the bomb squad is a valid bit of innovation. I was referring to the communication lights and tactics like the open field maul formation.

But where are the backline innovations? Cheslin and Arendse scored the vast majority of their tries from turnover ball….how do you innovate that. They are unusually brilliant open field runners.

If Rasmus was the forward coach one would give him high marks….our scrumming was brilliant. But any innovating in back play was in defence.

The net of all that is that we won and we are respected, but we aren’t admired. Our rugby was too predictable and our wins too lucky and too labored.

Absolute rubbish that Kolbe and Arendse score the vast majority of their tries from turnover ball - simply not true

Our backline play is as good as any other test nation out there evidenced by the try strike rates of Kolbe, Fassi and Arendse

The Boks are right up there with clean breaks, defenders beaten and tries scored - the notion that we are underachieving in the backs is simply bullshit

Rassie experimented literally all of last year. Every game was a culling and changing of personal.

Right now we have two Test Seasons before the next WC.

This year is a real one with 4 very tough games and we could well lose all four of them.

...for me, this is the final good year for the old guns. And that's why I think that experimenting last year was such a waste of time.

There is no way most of the regular Boks make it to the next WC. Pollard is already so slow, Am looks done, Mostert and PSDT probably won't be there, neither will Faf, DDA, or Willie. Kitshoff is already gone and Bongi won't make 2027 either. Even Kriel will be 33 at the 2027 WC.

So why the hell experiment so much last year, like right after the WC?

I'd have given the old boys a glory year last year, let them smash everybody...and then start experimenting this year and letting the oldies handle the important games with 2026 being a full WC prep year.

Instead we played musical chairs in 2024, are likely going to hide behind experimentation for our losses in Europe and NZ this year and come the end of 2026 it still won't be clear what our best team is.

And Dave is right, leaving out draws and 2023 (the second WC) Rasmus is 45/20 or 69.2%, so your figure of 65% is off Chip.

If you include the second WC year and ignore draws, he is at 56/22 or 71.8%. Almost the same as Mallett, but with an extra WC….which is worth more wins than a Lions series.

Jake is lower but both Oz and NZ were strong in his era. And there were no Bargie games in the TN.

So it all comes down preferences in the end. I think even HM who lost narrowly in 2015, could have done very well with the talent that emerged in the next 10 years.

Not great but on the bright side we did beat Portugal. This stat proves the bankruptcy of our backline play. We played 3 more matches than Portugal and made 7 more clean breaks. We never played rugby …we played kick and defend.

This is what our backline did….tackle anything that moved:

2 in a row walks it.

Moz rugby is not confined to WC’s

Incorrect ButtPlug...Test rugby no longer features mid-week dirt trackers. Experimenting with the Test team is essential to determine which new players can step up and which cannot.

Even if only two new Test-level players are identified each season, that amounts to half a team during the World Cup cycle, with the remainder coming from the previous World Cup squad.

A strong core is vital for any team, and integrating new players alongside experienced ones in settled combinations is crucial. Simply replacing Test greats with unproven younger candidates, who may never become first-choice in their positions, is not the answer.

Over time, older players must be replaced by younger ones who perform at Test level, as seen with Sasha. This approach will allow the Boks to peak in time for the next World Cup. Newcomers need a few years to learn the squad’s systems and gain enough experience to be at their best for the tournament.

The World Cup is just two years away. Players like Pieter-Steph du Toit and perhaps even Eben Etzebeth could still be in contention for the next World Cup.

I would have preferred Rassie to drop older players who will certainly not make the next World Cup and are not key to the squad—for example, Vincent Koch.

Agreed Shark - Rassie obviously knows that the majority of his squad are the wrong side of 30 so he has to identify and blood the next group of players - it’s obvious

Its exactly what he should continue to do for the first few games of the season against the Barbarians, Italy (2) and Georgia.

Give these players a run in those 4 games

15 Fassi / Jordan Hendrikse / Gelant

14/11 Tambwe / Green / Horn / Edwil vd Merwe / Zas

13 Julius / Moodie / Henco v Wyk

12 Willemse / Hooker / David Kriel

10 Sacha / Libbok

9 Williams / Papier / Jayden / vd Bergh / Nohamba

1 Wessels / Mchunu / Steenkamp

2 Dweba / AH Venter / Grobelaar

3 Thomas / Sadie / Nthlabakanye / Hanro Jacobs / Klopper

4/5 Jenkins / Moerat / Ruben v Heerden / Ruan Vermaak / Cobus Wiese / JF v Heerden

6/7/8 Buthelezi / Theunissen / Hanekom / Nortje

/ BJ Dixon / Ludwig / Ruan Venter / Vincent Tsituka / JL du Preez / Roos / Dan du Preez / Manu Tsituka / Augustus

Mozart

White in a moment of honesty blamed himself for the fact that other than the 2004 Tri-nations and the 2007 RWC the teams he coached never won any significant tournaments. The weird fact is that in 2004 Trinations 6 tsts were played and each particiating team won 2 tests - so the trophy was won on point difference - a show just as farcical as the winning on Saturday as the Sharks in the match aganst Munster on Saturday being decided by kicks at goal.

Another fact is that White has a poor record of being FIRED effectively as coach by both the Springboks as well two franchice/Clubs he coached TWICE because he was causing havoc in the teams he coached. In the case of the Sharks in 2014 he lasted one year as a coach because he caused havoc in the Shaks team by his conduct as too team selection and divisions he caused insde he player squad he coached,

If you asked about his performances none of the top players he caoched at the time like Smit, Matfield and the Du Plessis brothers as well as Frans Steyn have a kind word about his coaching and team selection. When the Bulls franchise was effectively taken over ownership of the Bulls by Rupert and Motsepe - he was given a vrtual limitless budget to recruit SA players playing rugby for foreign clubs and his selection of players were farcical at best and even where he did get a choice of players his intitial recruitment was a farce,

In the end Rupert appointed Brits to manage his and Motsepe's investment in the Bulls Franchise and since thenm he did recruit some better and younger players - his main recruitment were forwards and by mistake some colored players who turned out to be successful. But his team selection for critical matches were farcical and inevtiably let to losses by the team in crucial matches.

Of the three WC coaches I think White was the worst coach of the 3 involved in winning the RWC by some distance. In comments after the 2007 RWC Smit said if the English try was allowed the team would have to work out how to win the final by scoring a try themselves - in other words there was in planning of the match NO planning on how to score a try in the match against the English. For some reason the Springboks never played in the whole series any team ranked above then in the 2007 series, They played agaisnt an English team that was in serious decline after the 2003 RWC and it was an aged and ineffectuial team who played in the final. Fact is at the start of the RWC in 2007 the Springboks were ranked 5th in the world and the English was ranked 7th . . .

Mozart

White in a moment of honesty blamed himself for the fact that other than the 2004 Tri-nations and the 2007 RWC the teams he coached never won any significant tournaments. The weird fact is that in 2004 Trinations 6 tests were played and each particiating team won 2 tests - so the trophy was won on point difference - a show just as farcical as the winning on Saturday as the Sharks in the match aganst Munster being decided by kicks at goal.

Another fact is that White has a poor record of being FIRED effectively as coach by both the Springboks as well two franchice/Clubs he coached TWICE because he was causing havoc in the teams he coached. In the case of the Sharks in 2014 he lasted one year as a coach because he caused havoc in the Sharks team by his conduct as to team selection and divisions he caused insde he player squad he coached,

If you asked about his performances none of the top players he caoched at the time like Smit, Matfield and the Du Plessis borthers as well as Frans Steyn have no kind words about his coaching and team selection. When the Bulls franchise was effectively taken over ownership of the Bulls by Rupert and Motsepe - he was given a vrtual limitless budget to recruit SA players playing rugby for foreign cluns and his eselection of players were farcical at best and even where he ddid get a choice of players his intitial recruitment was a farce,

In the end Rupert appointed Brits to manage his and Motsepe's investment in the Bulls Franchise and since thenm he did recruit some better and younger players - his main recruitment were forwards and by mistake some colored players who turned out to be successful. But his team selection for critical matches were farcical and inevtiably let to losses by the team in crucial matches.

Of the three WC coaches I think White was the worst coach of the 3 involved in winning the RWC by some distance. In comments after the 2007 RWC Smit said if the English try was allowed the team would have to work out how to win the final by scoring a try themselves - in other words there was in planning of the match NO planning on how to score a try in the match against the English. For some reason the Springboks never played in the whole series any team ranked above them in the 2007 series, They played agaisnt an English team that was in serious decline after the 2003 RWC and it was an aged and ineffectuial team who played in the final. Fact is at the start of the RWC in 2007 the Springboks were ranked 5th in the world and the English was ranked 7th. The other teams the Springboks played against the series were the Argentina (ranked 9) and Fiji (ranked 10). Nothing similar happened the history in RWC's since 1987.

Mozart is the only person that in the rugby world that would rate White as a better coach than Erasmus - his comments are really farcical and rugby idiocy in the extreme.

. . .

Dave you say rugby is not confined to WCs. But take away Rasmus’ 11/2 and 10/1 WC years….he is at 35/19 or 64%. Average for a Bok coach despite our improved talent pool and the decline of OZ and NZ.

So if he coached a more expansive game outside WCs it was much less successful than Rasmus ball…basically scrum, tackle and rely on Pollard.

Jake White our only coach who has not lost a WC match playing on foreign fields and still top notch 22 years after first coaching the Boks. No other Bok coach had to survive a coup attempt and media abuse for not selecting a player (the provincial talent Luke Watson).

You don’t exclude WC’s or base stars solely on WC’s - that makes absolutely no sense at all

Jake never lost a WC game as he had the easiest WC ever - he only had to face England - that’s it

Compare that with Rassie’s last WC having had to play Scotland, Ireland, France, England and NZ to win in - now that is a real challenge unlike Jake’s cruise

Jake had one big thing in his favour . . . he was incredibly lucky.

I think we can all agree he was without doubt our luckiest coach ever.

His one and only RWC victory was in 2007. First he drew the easy group of South Africa, England, Samoa, Tonga and USA.

Next bit of luck for Jake was his only real opposition in the group - England - being completely off form. The Springboks thrashed them 36-0 in the pool game to top an easy group.

Next stroke of luck was the quarterfinal opposition. Not the All Blacks, not the Wallabies, not France, but Fiji. A side that had never come close to beating the Boks in their history.

Next incredible stroke of luck was the semis where all of New Zealand, Australia and France were in the other half of the draw and the Springboks got to play Argentiana, another side who - at that point in time - had never beaten the Springboks.

Jakes next stroke of luck was England beating France in the other semi so we ended up playing the same side we'd already thrashed 36-0 in the Final.

Finally, Jake got lucky again in the final when England nearly beat us with a Mark Cueto try which was disallowed for having a foot into touch when it appeared otherwise.

Without question our luckiest ever coach whose subsequent reputation for the next few decades was very inflated.

Not our worst ever coach - nowhere near Allister Cotzee, Rudolf Straeuli or Pieter de Villiers for example - but definitely our luckiest coach ever.

Weird, I guess Jake must also be very lucky to have the Bulls playing the kind of rugby that they are when the Sharks are better on paper and the Stormers aren't far off.

Perhaps it's years of experience, but the Bulls are playing fantastic rugby right now and it doesn't look like it has anything to do with luck. It looks like the result of excellent coaching and much more good ideas than bad ones.

They just as good as the Sharks looked when he coached them and just as formidable as the Brumbies did when he was in charge.

I think we're talking about Springbok coach on this thread, ButtPlug, not best or worst provincial coach.

Check out the title of the thread and get someone to explain it to you if you're still struggling.

Hope that helps.

White survived bei ng dicharged when his team plaed dismal rugby in 2006 with A ustralia beating them 49-0 in Bribane - the team performaces were substandard and Wh ite approached Thabo Mbeki for an intervuiew - but never got one, The Government love interefering in sports - but that attempt to get the President to rule over SARU was anoher reason why he did the unthinkable - a nasty precedent that would have led to even more intererence by the Government in rugby,

The other problem White has is that he helped creating rifts in the squad White started as school coach and he unfortunately treated professional players as of they were children. After his departure players like Smit and Matfield would not say a kind word about him as a coach. Erasmus was part of the WC coaching set-up - but he elft the set-up because of White's ideas about coaching and match planning.

As to coaching for the Sharks White was a similar headache, He started off with claiming there were rifts in the team between English and Afrikaans speaking players by getting rid of the Sharks captain Keegam Daniel using the alleged rifts on him. In any event during 2014 the problems got worse and when the players contracts were offered to 16 players up for renewal - they said they would not sign any contract with the Sharks while White was the oach. The same situation prevailed while Jake was the Springbok coach.

In a professional environment players must respect the Head Coach and be loyal to him and Trust him in full. Since that respect and the fact that teams he coached went issing and did stop winning of trophies and that was always the case with White,

Next bit of luck for Jake was his only real opposition in the group - England - being completely off form. The Springboks thrashed them 36-0 in the pool game to top an easy group.

Was that the England team that beat Oz and beat France who beat NZ. And the England team that won the 2003 WC? England is an effective WC team, witness their victory over NZ in 2019 and Pollard’s rescue of the Boks against them in 2023. Their direct approach, like that of the Bok’s works in WCs.

But it’s nice to know an off form Pom team can beat Oz and France.

And nice lie about the Cueto try, the replays clearly show his foot brushed the line before he grounded the ball….so much for your honesty.

White’s margin of victory in the knockouts 50 points. Rasmus in 2019 against weaker opposition 46 and in 2023 3 lucky points courtesy Pollard.

Hope that gives you some perspective.

Rooi good point about Jake’s luck - he was also lucky not to be sacked pre that WC, he came damn close but was lucky enough to inherit Eddie Jones to save his arse

Moz how the fuck were Jakes opponents more difficult than Rassie’s 2019 campaign

Jake literally only had England to overcome

Very simple Dave…..Fiji had an awesome backline and with their physicality they actually presented a challenge. By contrast we dominated the Japanese team, they had no weapons to bother us.

In the semis Jake faced a Bargie team that comfortably beat France and Scotland and thrashed Ireland. In 2019 Rasmus faced a Welsh team that was losing to France in QF before France got a red card early in the 2nd half.

In the final the 2007 Pom team with WC winners showed up, whereas the 2019 team thought they had played their final and never adapted.

In 2019 our only opponent was a distracted Pom team….the other real opponent NZ comfortably beat us in the pools.

Is the fog lifting.

That is very laughable - you can add as much glitter to Jake’s campaign as you like but the facts are - Fiji were nothing back then just like they are now and back then Argentina were nothing as well.

Reality is Jake only had to face one top tier side to win that WC - by far the easiest WC route ever

In 2019 Rassie’s Boks had to face 3 top tier sides in NZ, Wales and England to win it. They did not beat England in that final, they thrashed them

1 vs 3 top tier sides = no contest

Yeah well Fiji beat Wales in 2007. And they also beat Japan. And the ABs crushed Wales by more than 20 points in the 3rd place game in 2019. Wales are never going to be a WC challenge for the Boks or ABs.

And crucially the Boks never lost a game in 2007, Rasmus lost to Ireland and NZ, and luckily never faced them again in those WCs.

But who are the 3 top tier teams, I hope you aren’t including the ABs who beat us.

"And crucially the Boks never lost a game in 2007"

Hmmm . . . so that's "crucial" is it?

Well on 23 June 2007, the Springboks lost at home in Durban 21-26 to the All Blacks.

Then on 7 July 2007 the Springboks lost in Sydney 25-17 to the Wallabies.

Then on 14 July the Springboks werer hammered in Christchurch 33-6 by the All Blacks.

That's three losses in 2007.

So, Moffie, are you a liar or are you stupid?

It's one of the two.

LMAO!

And crucially the Boks never lost a game in 2007, Rasmus lost to Ireland and NZ, and luckily never faced them again in those WCs.

And luckily never faced them again in the those WCs.

Only a truly dishonest person would cut off the context and only a fool would not understand we are talking about WCs. I guess you qualify for both.

Rofl!