Rassie Erasmus confirms he won't coach Springboks beyond 2019

Rassie Erasmus has confirmed that will only be in charge of the Springboks until the 2019 World Cup in Japan.

In an exclusive interview with SuperSport, Erasmus pointed out that he did not have a six-year contract as the Springboks coach and looked back on his first year in charge as both head coach of the Boks and Director of Rugby. 

"It’s a six-year contract as director of rugby – not as head coach. I’m only head coach until the World Cup next year. And again, the six years – as I’ve said many times before – is not there to protect myself; it’s there to protect Saru,” Erasmus stated.

“We all know if I don’t perform as head coach or director of rugby, the people vote me out.

“And with all respect to my Exco, my CEO, if we don’t perform on the field in the various departments or the Springboks, then I will get fired.

“The Springbok head coach (job) is only until next year at the World Cup.”

Erasmus had a 50 percent win record in 2018 with seven victories in 14 Tests, and said when he returned to SA from his job at Munster in Ireland, he thought Coetzee would continue to guide the Boks.

“When I was appointed as the director of rugby, at that stage, I thought Allister Coetzee was still continuing. But the leadership decided that Allister should step down, and they asked me to take it." 

“For somebody from the outside to all of a sudden have just 18 Test matches to prepare the team for the World Cup, I didn’t think that would be fair to that coach – it would’ve been a suicide job.

“And for myself, who’s been in the position before (as director), it made sense to ask me.

“Obviously the flagship of SA Rugby is the Springboks. That was the first stop that we had to fix – the previous year, the only teams we beat were Italy, France and Argentina.”