Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus was the guest of honour and speaker at an exclusive Blue Bulls Rugby Trust (BBRT) gala dinner and fundraising event held at SuperSport Park in Centurion, where a record R650 000 was raised.

Wherever Erasmus goes, he breaks records and does pioneering work. According to Pretoria Rekord, the BBRT, which is independently managed and operated by a number of trustees, looks after former Blue Bulls rugby players in need and provides assistance with matters such as medical expenses, while families have also been assisted with funeral costs.

Although guests at this type of event are accustomed to auctions held for the benefit of the organisation, the names of former players who have benefited from the trust’s funds in the past have not previously been disclosed. However, the testimonies of three courageous former Bulls and Springbok players revealed a different side of the charitable organisation to guests – a revelation which, with the presence of Erasmus, had a massive impact on the fundraising efforts.

The testimonies of legends Mouner van Heerden (heart surgery), Adriaan Richter (knee replacement) and Piet Pretorius (back surgery) offered guests a personal insight into the fact that sports stars are only human and also occasionally struggle through difficult times.

Both Richter and Pretorius ran successful businesses, but they testified to how one or two major crises can arise that might drastically alter a person’s situation. All three legends attested to the wonderful work that the BBRT, which is unique to the Bulls, can perform in such instances.

These testimonies and the support of Erasmus inspired guests, with an auction and donations ultimately raising R650 000.

Erasmus participated in a question-and-answer session led by former CEO of the Blue Bulls Company Barend van Graan.

Bulls spy scheme backfires

In a lighter vein, Erasmus recounted an anecdote about how, during his early years as coach of the Cheetahs, he once pulled a fast one on the Bulls. Former high performance manager of the Bulls Ian Schwartz, who later became Heyneke Meyer’s Springbok team manager, was involved.

“Ian was originally from Bloemfontein and we knew his tricks. He contacted a technology company in Bloem to hire their services to spy on us before an important match. What he didn’t know was that I was a shareholder in that company, so I found out about the scheme. I arranged for them to feed him incorrect information and it backfired badly on the Bulls,” Erasmus recounted, to the loud laughter of the guests.

How the ‘disco lights’ were dimmed

However, he also shared another anecdote about how Schwartz had his day of revenge. This was back in the days when Erasmus still communicated with his players by using coloured lights, a practice dubbed ‘Rassie’s disco lights’ by the media.

“Schwartz arranged with the stadium management to have the power to all the wall sockets in our coaches’ box cut off. Consequently, I couldn’t get my coloured-light system working, and that had a massive impact on our match plan,” Erasmus remarked.

Overturning perceptions in SA rugby

Prompted by Van Graan’s questions, Erasmus also shared more about how each phase of his career helped shape him into the coach and people manager he is today. He elaborated on learning to work with limited resources in Bloemfontein, and the immense influence that Colonel Peet Kleynhans, a former Pretoria Police coach who later coached the Cheetahs, had on him and his development as both a rugby player and a coach. Then there was his brief stint at Munster in Ireland, which further broadened his horizons and where he realised how rugby could be successfully managed in a country with only a fraction of the talent pool available in South Africa.

“In Cape Town, I gained new perspectives on transformation and the development of rugby in South Africa,” Erasmus explained. “After conversations with players like Gio Aplon, I realised that SA Rugby needed a development programme to overturn the perception that players from other racial groups could only thrive as outside backs. We later implemented this programme and just look at how many forwards from other racial groups are now coming through South Africa’s rugby pipeline at junior level, via schools and universities.”

He later shed more light on his views regarding various aspects of rugby and how the structure of the game is managed these days. Although he was reluctant to answer many questions concerning refereeing matters, Erasmus acknowledged that the involvement of former international referee Jaco Peyper has made a huge difference in how they handle refereeing protocols.

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