Rassie tells funny story about his dash to the loo: ‘Then I got stage fright’

Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus was in a jovial mood after his team clinched their fourth straight Rugby Championship win in 2024, and second consecutive victory against the All Blacks in the competition this year, at the Cape Town Stadium on Saturday night.

It was also the Boks’ fourth straight win over their greatest rivals, and put them on the verge of winning the Rugby Championship with two games to go.

During the after-match press conference Erasmus shared an hilarious story with the media, about his rush to the loo before the start of the match, which highlighted the vibe and excitement inside the stadium ahead of the 5pm kick-off.

Long queue

“I don’t know if this is appropriate, but our coaches box is up there (towards the top of the stadium), and I am taking this medication that makes you go to the toilet quite often. And as I got into the coaches box I thought I won’t make it (through) the first half if I don’t go to the toilet now,” said a smiling Erasmus.

“To get to the toilet you have to walk through the public area and there is a men’s and women’s toilet, but the men’s queue was long, so the lady (waiting to use the women’s restroom) said I can go in.

“In the bathroom there was another lady, she was obviously dressed and everything was fine, and I said I really need to get back to the coach’s box. She said it was fine and she would just turn around, but then I got stage fright.

“But that’s the vibe. The people just carried on. The one guy acted like a police officer, rushing me back to the coaches box, so the crowd was lovely. Even when things weren’t going well, they would keep on singing.

“That’s the difference between Cape Town crowds and some others. They are still singing when you are losing and that’s nice. But Ellis Park was also amazing last week.”

‘Special to play against them’

Bok captain Siya Kolisi also thoroughly enjoyed the occasion, saying that this was their most important game since the World Cup, while he added that playing the All Blacks was always special and that they were looking forward to the possible tours between the two nations kicking off in a few years.

“We really enjoy playing against them, especially because we are not in Super Rugby anymore. So it’s special to play against them, it’s a rivalry that’s been going for over 100 years now and there is mutual respect between the two teams who go flat out at one another and afterwards we can have a beer together,” said Kolisi.

“You can see how the people came out here, and last week, but I think that South Africans are just hungry to see this team in action and it doesn’t matter who we play, we will fill the stadiums.

“I remember a time that we played and the stadiums were empty … in 2026 we will play them three times, I think it will be huge and something special, hopefully I’m still here.

“But this was really big for us. We spoke about it. After the World Cup final, this was the biggest game for us as a group.”