Brenden Nel sat down with Erasmus ahead of the Rugby World Cup cycle and came away with a revealing portrait of what actually motivates him. It's not the fear of losing per se — Erasmus is candid that the Boks will drop games — but the deeper fear of losing the collective national feeling that Springbok success has generated. That sense of South African togetherness, he says, is what gives him his adrenaline, and its potential absence is what keeps him working harder than most. The piece uses Nick Mallett as a knowing sounding board: Mallett charts his own greying arc through three years in the job and notes how deeply Erasmus internalised the Ellis Park loss to Australia last year, framing Rassie's near-80% win record as the engine that keeps the good-news story alive for the country. Erasmus also opens up on the off-season grind — the virtual meetings, franchise visits and succession planning that fill the months between Tests — and the odd comfort of returning to camp as the one place that genuinely feels like a safe space after years of shared highs and lows.