By Danie Jacobs
Klerksdorp Record, Potchefstroom - Dr Rassie Erasmus had the audience eating out of his hand during a guest lecture at the Totius Hall at the NWU this week. The theme was “From the sidelines to the spotlight”.
Dr Rassie (he received an honorary doctorate from the university last year) is the most famous sports coach in SA and one of the most famous in the world as he led the mighty Springboks to two World Cup wins.
He delivered the lecture on Monday February 24 to a packed hall - and in English - and was super careful not to say one of the colourful words he is known for.
That was greeted by loud applause by the audience - a mix of students, players, coaches, dads accompanying their boys and fans.
With this lecture, he managed to take the audience into the boardroom and gave a short rundown of what makes a good coach and what makes a great ‘Bok.
He described their end goal as winning the World Cup and said the draw for the 2027 event that will take place at the end of this year, will kick off their planning. “Team selection is everything and the players must play for the team not themselves. Then they must work together, he must lead by example (do as I do not as I say), let them put in the effort, see how hard they try and evolve with them.”
What makes a Springbok? “We don’t give up, and we have to defend the tryline as if we’re defending South Africa.”
He added talent alone will not work, as it’s a combination of talent and mindset. Also players must be warriors - stand up for the team and the country.
Lastly, he added, leave space for characters in the team and speaking out of his own career, players get dropped due to attitude, “but that can be corrected”.
What makes a team, any team? “Birds fly in a v formation and never have the same leader. If a bird falls out of line, he has to get back in line. If geese can do it, so can you!”
And - to close - “don’t look at the scoreboard because the effort put in sometimes outweighs the scoreboard”.
* Prof Bismark Tyobeka, principal and vice-chancellor of the university, said there were many parallels between the Springboks’ and NWU’s approaches to the pursuit of excellence.
“I would like to take a moment to reflect on the invaluable insights that Dr Rassie shared with us. He emphasised a fundamental truth: that no one person in this room is more important than the next. This principle resonates deeply with our values at the university, where we are committed to developing future leaders who will carry these ideals into their communities and interactions.
Dr Rassie spoke of the vital importance of identifying and nurturing talent through strategic goal setting, a process that mirrors our own efforts. Just as he and his team take ownership of their journey to success, so too do we take pride in our collective achievements, based on teamwork and collaboration. Think of our medical school initiative; it’s our World Cup and we’re following Rassie’s roadmap to the letter, even though we don’t have a Beast, an Ox or an Eben!” Prof Tyobeka exclaimed.
