Springbok coach Peter de Villiers's job remains safe, as do those of his assistant coaches, but the rumours of Rassie Erasmus joining the Bok management will not go away. In fact, these rumours once again resurfaced - stronger than ever - on Sunday.
Rapport, South Africa's leading rugby newspaper, carried a story on Sunday morning entitled, Rassie, kom help! (Translated - Rassie, come help!)
In that article it says that Erasmus will be unveiled as the new South African Under-20 coach during the next fortnight, whilst he will also assist the embattled Boks on their end-of-season Grand Slam tour of Europe.
According to Rapport, Erasmus will consult to De Villiers and his assistant coaches Dick Muir and Gary Gold, whilst he will also be part of the management team in New Zealand next year when the Boks put their William Webb Ellis trophy on the line.
Such a role, would, arguably, make Erasmus the most powerful coach in South African rugby - as well as making him the frontrunner to replace De Villiers as Bok head honcho after the World Cup.
Erasmus could still face stiff competition from his current WP colleague Allister Coetzee and Heyneke Meyer (the Bulls' Director of Rugby) to land the job as Bok head coach in 2012, but joining the management team now would give him the ideal head start... especially if the team begins to show an improvement with him in the mix.
For all of this to materialise, however, Erasmus will have to be bought out of his current Western Province contract - which is set to run to 2012 - but this is all set to happen, according to rugby365.com's sources.
It is also seems that he will definitely take the vacant SA U20 head coach position. Erasmus did not, it appears, apply formally - but it appears the combining of the roles could make more financial sense to SARU, as well as have the benefit of having arguably the country's leading technical mind dealing with the country's most promising young players.
However, contrary to the Rapport story, it appears that Erasmus may, in fact, not be lost to Western Province immediately.
Reliable SARU sources suggest that he will indeed go on the end-of-year tour - probably with WP defence coach Jacques Nienaber in tow - and then return to Stormers management for the Super 15 before going full-time into the employ of SA Rugby, with a view to taking over post-2011 World Cup.
Like the Bulls it could be a seismic Super 15 for the Stormers with a generational change in order after the tournament; as the likes of Conrad Jantjes, Bryan Habana, Jean de Villiers, Jaque Fourie, Peter Grant, and Schalk Burger all likely to secure lucrative overseas contracts or retire. However, Erasmus is known to be working hard to ensure that the WP youth and coaching structures remain in place for life post-2011.
The powers that be at SA Rugby are seemingly keen to get an 'expert' consultant on board before the year-end tour, SARU President Oregan Hoskins having also admitted as much on Friday when the national body released a statement about the management team - after yet another tumultuous week in SA rugby which led to Hoskins meeting with De Villiers, Gold and Muir in Durban last Thursday "to clear the air".
"It is our intention to seek the input of consultants at some point in the future - we saw what value Eddie Jones brought to an established coaching team in 2007," said Hoskins in the statement - a press release which was sent out to confirm that the coaching trio of De Villiers, Muir and Gold would not be tampered with.
Hoskins added in the statement: "I discussed the principle with all three coaches and they are fully supportive."
Ironically, former Wallabies boss Jones - whom Hoskins referred to in the statement - joined the Bok management ahead of the 2007 World Cup after Erasmus bowed out of the equation, having up till then that year served as the technical advisor to Jake White's Springboks.
Now, it seems, Erasmus will be on board in some capacity at the next World Cup (in New Zealand), which could see his trusted lieutenant - WP defensive coach Jacques Nienaber - also join the Bok fray; at the end of this year and then, later, in a full-time capacity.
Nienaber - who followed Erasmus from Bloemfontein to Cape Town - has made a name for himself this year as a defensive coach of note, having started out as a conditioning coach at the Free State Cheetahs.
Under Nienaber's watch, the Stormers had by far the best defence in the 2010 Super 14 - conceding a staggering 171 points in 13 games - at an average of just 13 points a game. The next best defence was the Waratahs who conceded 22 points a game.
Bok boss De Villiers tried to get Nienaber on board ahead of South Africa's home leg of the 2010 Tri-Nations, but the move was blocked by WP's hierarchy.
However, with SARU set to buy Erasmus out of his current WP contract, he could also insist that they do the same for Nienaber and, perhaps even, other members of the current Province management team.
