They may not be popular, but Rassie Erasmus and Jacques Nienaber are on verge of becoming rugby’s best coaches ever

Siya Kolisi was 18-years-old when he first met Jacques Nienaber. Kolisi had just left the Cheetahs to join the Western Province academy. The Springbok captain remembers he could barely tackle at the time.

Those first sessions working with Nienaber then the Stormers defence coach and director of rugby Rassie Eramus, were tough, uncompromising. “When I first met him I couldn’t tackle,” recalled Kolisi. “When Jacques came it was full contact there and you had to show who you are. Every time they came it was intense.”

None of them knew then it was the start of a relationship that would culminate in the World Cup final at the Stade de France in Paris on Saturday night. History beckons for the winner.

South Africa have won three of the seven World Cups they have competed in, post-Apartheid. New Zealand’s record is three from nine. The winner can rightly claim to be the greatest rugby country in the world.

And there, at the heart of the Springbok machine, is the trio that first came together on the Western Province academy grounds in Cape Town.

It is Erasmus who steals the headlines, even though Nienaber, who will join Leinster after the World Cup, has been the Springboks head coach for four years now. Yet Kolisi reveals just how important the 51-year-old has been, not just to his own development but that of a Springboks side that has transformed from a side in disarray in 2018 to the verge of retaining the World Cup, the first side to do so since the All Blacks in 2015.

Kolisi also shines a light into what makes this Springboks squad such a tight unit, a side that pushes boundaries and challenges orthodoxy (and at times authority) and yet is resilient enough to cope with everything the Erasmus and Nienaber throw at them.

“I got to know him then and as I went on he became my senior coach and one thing I love about him is he goes far deeper than what is happening on the field. He got to know me, my family and why I do what I do,” Kolisi added. “He speaks to us with human courtesy.

“They don’t encourage us to tackle hard – we all know what that is. He knows my kids by name, asks me how I am doing as a person and that is why I can go and give him everything on the field because he cares about the person, he cares about Siya from the township. For the teams, especially in big moments, he talks about each and every player’s journey.

“It is so special to be known as a person not just as an object or a rugby player. That’s what he brings to this team. And the fact that he allows families to be around, how much he loves to see our kids running around. I know some teams are not allowed to have families, but that is what he creates, that family environment. I have enjoyed every single year that I’ve worked with him. The tough times too, when he comes and calls me out. He is always honest. I can’t explain how much I have enjoyed it.”

Bold calls by coaching duo

The bond that Nienaber and Erasmus have created between management and player is without doubt the tightest in the world game. Their coaching trademark often seems like they are trying to be the smartest in the room.

From originally only picking one fly-half (Mannie Libbok) with a dodgy kicking success rate and four scrum-halves, and choosing to replace hooker Malcolm Marx with a kicking fly-half in Handre Pollard, the selection process has seemingly kept the squad in a state of competitive chaos.

The physical and positional challenge of coping with a seven-one split of forwards and backs, as the Springboks have gone again for in the final, is a further extension of this.

While on-field the innovations have included the use of traffic lights to direct play and calling a scrum from a mark, while there was a ruthless streak to their real-time coaching to withdraw Libbok after just 30 minutes against England, as well as their totemic forward Eben Etzebeth early in the second half as the game looked to be slipping from their grasp.

The tactical changes however ensured they just had enough to edge out England, with a potent mix of brutality and calmness in their ability to use their scrummaging power to seal their late victory.

“We explain to the whole squad why we are going a certain route,” said Nienaber. “It is not about individual selection. It is for South Africa. As selectors we know there will be pressure on us if we don’t deliver a result but at the back of our minds we know this selection is for South Africa.

“The players take it like that. It is not about a person or ego, not that they have egos, but you can’t think of that. You have to think about South Africa and the Springboks.”

The world may view the Springboks differently. An important part of forging that sense of togetherness appears to include fostering a them against us spirit of defiance.

Whatever the rights and wrongs of the Tom Curry – Bongi Mbonambi incident, for such a serious matter, there was no sense of outreach or nuance. Only more provocation, light-hearted jibes with meaning, and unequivocal backing of their man.

‘We don’t play for people to respect us, we play for each other and we play for South Africa, so they can be proud of us,” said Kwagga Smith, the Springboks back row forward.

It is a sentiment hewn from a win-at-all-costs attitude that makes them a hard team to love for the neutral.

It is a shame. Because what is undeniable is that the Erasmus and Nienaber coaching dynamic is arguably the greatest in the world right now - and quite possibly ever. A second World Cup triumph, on the back of their Test series win over the British and Irish Lions would put such an assertion beyond doubt.

A second World Cup triumph, on the back