Rassie Erasmus confirms he is staying at Munster

“I can’t speak highly enough for what a good coach Rassie is. It’s brilliant that he’s staying around."

Rassie Erasmus confirms he is staying at Munster

Out of the darkness of a comprehensive Champions Cup semi-final defeat to Saracens there was some good news for the 50,000 Munster supporters leaving Aviva Stadium on Saturday evening.

Director of rugby Rassie Erasmus has told his players he is seeing out the remaining two seasons of his three-year contract, putting an end to speculation he was about to jump ship and return to his native South Africa.

Reports in his homeland had it that the former Springboks flanker, who left his post as high performance general manager with the SARU last summer to join Munster, was set to be re-appointed to the role at the end of the northern hemisphere season, leaving his IRFU post after just a year in charge of the southern province.

Yet it appears that was not the case with Munster hooker Niall Scannell on Saturday night revealing in the wake of the 26-10 defeat to reigning European champions Saracens, that Erasmus was staying put, much to the relief of players and supporters alike.

“There's been a lot speculation, but he clarified to us a few weeks ago.,” Scannell said. “And I'll be honest with you, at the time it was reassuring to hear because himself, Jacques (Nienaber), Felix (Jones) and Fla (Jerry Flannery), they're a top quality coaching ticket and they've done so much for us.

“Obviously Axel (Anthony Foley, Munster's late head coach) had a big hand in that, but if you just look at the turnaround we've had in nine, 10 months. I can't speak highly enough for what a good coach Rassie is.

“It's brilliant that he's staying around. It's brilliant for our club and it's brilliant for Irish rugby. The confidence it's given us, it's something I haven't had from a coach before.

“He comes into the changing room afterwards saying: look, they're further along their curve and they were the better team today. You trust him and you believe that we will evolve and we will get there and that's hugely reassuring that he's staying around.”

Saracens director of rugby Mark McCall praised his players for the way they held out against an early Munster storm in a ferocious opening half that the Londoners edged 6-3 despite the Irish side dominating possession and territory. Saracens did not even concede a point with their back-rower Jackson Wray sin-binned for a high tackle on Duncan Williams midway through first period.

Saracens turned the screw in the second half and tries from prop Mako Vunipola and substitute wing Chris Wyles, both converted by Owen Farrell, who also kicked four penalties, saw the English champions home. CJ Stander grabbed a late consolation try, converted by Ian Keatley but the games had long been out of reach for Munster.

“I thought our defence was extraordinary,” McCall said. “The game started exactly as they would have wanted and we came away and just conceded three points at that point. We couldn’t really escape our half in the first half but our defence remained good.

“I thought in the second half just started to get on top but blew one or two really good chances. We just need to stay patient and persistent as a group and not get frustrated by those things and I thought we did and the pressure eventually told.

“They kicked the ball a lot, they put our backfield under some pressure and we knew they had some really good guys in the air and we needed to get numbers around the ball. I thought our maul defence was good but our defence was the big thing. We soaked up a lot of pressure and coped with their attack really well.”

Speaking after the defeat, Erasmus admitted there was still a gulf in class between his side and Saracens but was focused on future improvements: "We've got a ways to go to get to Saracens but hopefully in a year's time we will be closer."

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