Tickles from 'uncomplicated' Rassie Erasmus touching Irish nerves

In a sport too often festooned with management speak, psycho-babble and cliches, rugby really doesn't know what to do with genuine characters.

Eddie Jones may have jumped the shark long before he lambasted the Australian media at Sydney International Airport while dressed like the late crocodile hunter Steve Irwin but for years he had elements of the English media on a string, eliciting whatever reaction he desired from the fourth estate, usually for the purpose of distracting from a more serious issue, such as the turnover in his backroom team.

Jones’s schtick was fairly transparent but it was entertaining and it provided headlines.

While things were good for English rugby his colourful tendencies often shouted over potentially troublesome topics and as things started to go sour, he was happy to go down swinging.

No talk of work-ons, emotional intelligence or leadership groups.

Then, once the axe fell, Jones spoke glowingly about his players, coaches and even, grudgingly, the RFU.

The masquerade was over and Jones changed the script. There was no fourth wall to knock down.

Jones put away his angry, besieged persona until it was required again, in the run-up to Australia’s disastrous World Cup campaign.

Rassie Erasmus is an altogether more intriguing case. Arguably the most interesting 'character’ operating in rugby’s upper echelons, his ability to steer the narrative is Jonesesque, but he does it while insisting the limelight is not for him and he is just a simple rugby coach trying to do the best for his teams.

"I may come across as a loudmouth, opinionated, arrogant, unrepentant … people think I’m extroverted, but I’m not. I find social occasions difficult... I’m a quiet, uncomplicated person."

That’s how his own memoir begins