Rassie & Razor: Rugby’s terrific twins separated at birth
As international players, Rassie Erasmus and Scott Robertson’s Test careers are a mirror image. As humans, they both stand 6.ft 3. As coaches of the Springboks and All Blacks, the similarities are equally remarkable, writes Mark Keohane.
Both were outstanding Test loose-forwards. Both had a five year Test career: Erasmus from 1997-2001 and Robertson from 1998-2002.
Erasmus played 36 Tests for the Springboks for a 75 percent win record.
Robertson played 23 Tests for the All Blacks for a 74 percent win record.
Erasmus played 5 Tests against the All Blacks between 1998 and 2000 and won three for a 60 percent win record.
Robertson played five Tests against the Springboks between 1998 and 2002 and won three for a 60 percent win record.
Erasmus played his first Test against the All Blacks in Durban in 1998 and the Boks won 24-23.
Robertson played his last Test against the Boks in Durban in 2002 and the All Blacks won 30-23.
Erasmus played 11 Test teams in his career and had a 100 percent win record against six teams.
Robertson played 11 Test teams in his career and had a 100 percent win record against six teams.
In Robertson’s 1st Test against the Springboks in Durban in 1998, Bob Skinstad played off the bench.
In Robertson’s last Test against the Springboks in Durban in 2002, Bob Skinstad started at No 8.
Erasmus’s worst winning percentage as a player is against Australia: 4/8 for 50%
Robertson’s worst winning percentage as a player is against Australia: 2/5 for 40%
Erasmus, in his last Test against the All Blacks, won 46-40 at Ellis Park in 2000.
Robertson, in his last Test against the Springboks, won 30-23 in Durban in 2002.
Erasmus in his first home Test series as Springboks coach beat England in 2018, winning the first two of three Tests in Johannesburg and Bloemfontein
Robertson in his first home Test series as All Blacks coach in 2024 beat England in Dunedin and Auckland.
Erasmus’s Springboks, in the latest Test against England in the World Cup semi-final in Paris, won 16-15.
Robertson’s All Blacks, in his 1st Test against England, won 16-15.
Erasmus as the Stormers coach in 2010 created history in beating all five New Zealand franchises in one league season, winning three matches at Newlands in Cape Town and beating the Blues and Chiefs in New Zealand.
Robertson, in 2017, created history by becoming the first foreign coach to ever win a Super Rugby final in South Africa when his Crusaders beat the Lions in the final at Ellis Park.
Erasmus is 51 years old and Robertson is 49 years old. That makes for the perfect 100 in age and in pedigree between the two greatest rugby nations of the sport in South Africa and New Zealand.
The Springboks have won four World Cups and the All Blacks have three. The All Blacks historical win percentage in the history of the game is 75 percent and the Springboks are 60 percent against the leading 10 nations.
The next best is England with 51 percent.
The Springboks (1937) have only ever won one three-Test series in New Zealand and the All Blacks (1996) have only won one three-Test series in South Africa.
The All Blacks, in 2022, played back to back Tests in South Africa and lost in Nelspruit and won in Johannesburg.
The last time they played the Boks in Cape Town, at Newlands in 2017, the All Blacks won 25-24.
The last time the two teams met was at the World Cup final in Paris in 2023 and the Boks won by a point 12-11. Preceding that final the teams, between 2018 and 2023, had played each other 10 times, in New Zealand, in South Africa, twice in Australia and once in England.
In Australia, the All Blacks won by two from the final kick of the game. A week later the Boks won by two from the last kick of the game.
In Wellington, in 2018, the Boks won by two 36-24. A few weeks later the All Blacks won at Loftus, in Pretoria, 32-30.
When the two teams prepared for the final in Paris, historically, between 2018 and 2023 the differential on average was one point. In the final, one point separated them.
In Rassie and Razor’s playing career, one percent in winning separated their Test careers, in career match-ups between South Africa and New Zealand, nothing separated them and, in beating England in their debut home series as national coaches, nothing separated them.
Erasmus played his last Test in 2001. Robertson played his last in 2002.
That number one seems to follow the world’s No 1 coach and the coach who is chasing being Test rugby’s No 1.
