Rassie not swayed by Munster allegiance as loyalties hold firm in Stormers' favour
news24.comSA Rugby director of rugby Rassie Erasmus was far from torn in terms of where his loyalties will lie for Saturday's United Rugby Championship final between the Stormers and Munster, despite having worked for both teams.Erasmus's coaching career took shape significantly at the Stormers after starting off at the Cheetahs, and he was at Munster with Springbok coach Jacques Nienaber before returning to the Springboks in 2018.The 2019 World Cup winner joked about how he handed out match jerseys to the Stormers when they met Munster in the round-robin game in Cape Town on 15 April, which the hosts lost 24-26.READ | Stalwarts Fourie, Orie back in Stormers starting XV for URC final"I went and did the team talk before the Munster game and that's the one game that they lost," Erasmus recalled.He added that he was grateful for how his Munster stint changed him as a human being, but also gave credit to Stormers coach John Dobson on how he has grown the team."What Munster did for us, and I can say this over and over, but I know what Munster did for me personally."I got better there as a person and a coach, and there were a lot of things I learned there that we brought back into South Africa."Maybe the home ground may work, the Stormers crowd, but the way Dobbo has managed that team is very good. Stormers 15 Damian Willemse, 14 Angelo Davids, 13 Ruhan Nel, 12 Dan du Plessis, 11 Leolin Zas, 10 Manie Libbok, 9 Herschel Jantjies, 8 Evan Roos, 7 Hacjivah Dayimani, 6 Deon Fourie, 5 Marvin Orie, 4 Ruben van Heerden, 3 Frans Malherbe, 2 Joseph Dweba, 1 Steven Kitshoff (captain)Substitutes: 16 JJ Kotze, 17 Ali Vermaak, 18 Neethling Fouche, 19 Ben-Jason Dixon, 20 Willie Engelbrecht, 21 Marcel Theunissen, 22 Paul de Wet, 23 Clayton Blommetjies
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