Rugby World Cup final sees matchup of two coaches with deep links to Irish rugby
The battle between South Africa’s Rassie Erasmus and New Zealand's Joe Schmidt is an intriguing subplot ahead of the Rugby World Cup final. Photograph: Dave Winter/Inphofinal. But lurking in the shadows are two men whose imprint is all over their two teams’ progress to this collision between the game’s main superpowers.
While he reverted to the role of director of rugby after the last World Cup, with Nienaber formally promoted to the position of head coach, as anyone watching the coaches’ box at this World Cup can see, Erasmus remains the de facto main man. Of course, in 2019 Erasmus became already a World Cup-winning head coach in Japan after just 18 months in the job, rebuilding a side beaten 38-3 by Ireland less than two years previously.
At Munster, Jones would assiduously analyse opposition goal-kickers, timing both their preparation stance and run-up, while looking for any chink to signal their run-up with a view to a potential charge down. Many Munster players watching Cheslin Kolbe block Thomas Ramos’ conversion attempt in the quarter-final would have said: “That was Felix.”
Nienaber often talks about “drawing a line in the sand” and winning the gain line. They link this to the emotional side of the game, asking the players “why do you play this sport?” In the All Blacks camp, Schmidt’s methods also revolve around making the players believe that they have done the work and are so sure in their detail that they are also better prepared than the opposition.
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