Laurie Mains has accused Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus of being “a very dishonest person”
Mains, who guided the All Blacks to the 1995 World Cup final, later coached the Cats in the 2000 and 2001 Super 12. It was during that second season in charge that tensions first flared with his captain at the time, Erasmus.
According to Erasmus, writing in his 2023 autobiography, Mains had questioned his body language at training and even suggested that he was trying to undermine the coaching staff.
Erasmus wrote that the Kiwi was “jealous” of him and recalled that he was ready to leave the tour of New Zealand and Australia in 2001 because of the conflict, claiming black teammates were prepared to back him.
“Mains did not study our opponents. Before we played against the Auckland Blues, he said we should be wary of dangermen [flank] Matua Parkinson and [flyhalf] Carlos Spencer. He did not even know that both were injured,” Erasmus recalled.
Reflecting on that turbulent period, Erasmus added: “I learnt from the mistakes both of us made. I won’t have players who behave as badly as I did, feeling entitled just because they are playing well.
“How Laurie coached and analysed is exactly how I don’t want to be as a coach.
“But more importantly, I learnt to have proper communication with the players, to address grievances properly and not allow ill feelings to fester and affect the whole team.”
Those words were read to Mains during an interview and the 79-year-old hit back.
“Well, it’s funny he says that because Andre Venter, who was a great Springbok, told me ‘Rassie is doing exactly what you did that he hated to do and he refused to do. He is doing that with his players’,” Mains responded.
“The only reason I had conflict with Rassie, it wasn’t about rugby issues; it was that he didn’t want to train. Maybe he kept himself fit, I don’t know, but if I’d let the whole team be as slack as he wanted to be, there’s no way we would have won games.
“He’s a very dishonest person, and I’m not going to get into it now, but he had a lot of personal failings in his social life and that sort of thing.”
