Wales coach Warren Gatland and his South Africa counterpart Rassie Erasmus have not had the most convivial of relationships, but the hatchet looks to have been buried as the two countries ready to meet in Cardiff on Saturday.
Erasmus’ antics when Gatland led the British & Irish Lions on their COVID tour to South Africa in 2021 got under the skin of the New Zealand-born coach, who has not hesitated over the years since to voice his distaste.
Only last year, in a podcast with former players, Gatland said South Africa had foregone the spirit of the game with a win-at-all-costs mentality and before that he had appealed to authorities to rein in Erasmus’ social media posts highlighting officiating inconsistencies.
Erasmus seemed to relish irritating his opponent, notably in his role as “waterboy” during the Lions tour when he used a loophole in the rules to gain proximity to the players on the field by pretending to dispense water.
But on Wednesday Gatland said he and Erasmus had spoken since and mended fences.
“We’ve chatted on a couple of occasions about the Lions tour,” Gatland told a press conference.
“You’ve got to go past things that happened. We’ve had chats about that.
“I think with Rassie, you know what you get from a South African team with the physicality. They wear their hearts on their sleeve.”
On Tuesday, Erasmus spoke highly of Gatland, whose future in the Wales job is in doubt after a record-breaking run of 11 successive defeats.
“Coaching can become lonely. It’s cut-throat. Whenever someone is under the pump, you don’t wish anything bad on that person,” said the Bok coach.
“I wouldn’t say I would love him to beat us, but I would love Warren to be successful. Although we’ve bumped heads in the past, he’s a rugby man through and through.
“I have a lot of respect for him and I hope he gets the respect from everyone that he deserves,” Erasmus added.
South Africa’s clash with Wales at the Principality Stadium concludes the November test schedule for both countries.
The world champions have beaten Scotland and England in their last two outings while Wales lost to Fiji and Australia in Cardiff.
(Writing by Mark Gleeson in Cape Town; Editing by Christian Radnedge)
