South Africa director of rugby Rassie Erasmus has revealed that he will next month keep the poignant promise he made in 2019 about the late Anthony Foley, his former colleague at Munster who tragically passed away in his sleep at a Parisian hotel ahead of a Champions Cup match in the French capital in October 2016.
It was on his way out of his media briefing following the 2019 World Cup final win over England in Yokohama that Erasmus, the then-Springboks head coach, made an unsolicited promise to an Irish reporter attending the game that he would visit Foley’s grave in Co Clare with his medal sometime in the future.
With the pandemic travel restrictions now largely in hibernation and with Erasmus’ lengthy World Rugby ban from matchday involvement having recently expired, the SA DoR has been busy making plans for the upcoming European tour that will feature four Test games for the Springboks and two South Africa A games – including a fixture versus Munster in Cork.
On Tuesday, Erasmus and head coach Jacques Nienaber named a 26-strong squad for the three-day training squad in Stellenbosch from next Sunday ahead of the upcoming tour. Along with Mzwandile Stick, they hosted a virtual media briefing from Cape Town – Erasmus’ first official media briefing since before his ban last year – that went on for more than an hour.
Having been quizzed by other media on multiple selection issues, including the ongoing omission of Elton Jantjies, RugbyPass reminded Erasmus about his Yokohama promise to the late Foley and asked for his thoughts about bringing his South African team to play a game in Munster that was quickly sold out when tickets went on sale in September.
Having finished his post-match media conference following South Africa’s 32-12 win over England in November 2019, he spotted Derek Foley, a journalist from the Irish Daily Star, offered his hand and said: “Tell Anthony Foley the next time I am in Limerick I promise I will bring my medal to visit him.”
