Rassie Erasmus opens up on health scare, telling players

Rassie Erasmus has played a central role in turning the Springboks’ fortunes around over the last five years, overseeing their journey to two World Cup titles and a British & Irish Lions series win.

Quite remarkably, he spent a large part of 2019 fighting an illness known as granulomatosis with polyangiitis, a very uncommon disorder that can cause inflammation of the blood vessels in your nose, sinuses, throat, lungs and kidneys.

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It was previously known as Wegener’s disease, and in the case of Erasmus, the area most affected was in his throat, leaving him breathless and with the strange feeling that something was stuck in his throat.

“The blockage I felt in my throat was actually in my windpipe,” Rassie Erasmus describes in an extract from Rassie: Stories of life and rugby. “When the doctor did a scan of my oesophagus, its diameter was that of a nine-year-old boy’s. It was that small. My body thought there was an infection and was sending cells down to fight it, causing my windpipe to close.”

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How Rassie Erasmus dealt with shock diagnosis

Once diagnosed, Erasmus underwent intensive treatment, including chemotherapy and cortisone treatments, but he sought to keep his illness and treatment out of the public domain as he didn’t want the news to serve as a distraction during the World Cup year of 2019.

“When I arrived at the first team meeting of the year showing the side-effects of the cortisone, everyone could tell – it looked like I had picked up 10 to 15 kilograms – but they knew I was a guy who enjoys a kuier and braaivleis, so they drew their own conclusions,” Rassie shares in his book.

“My skin became irritated, my face went red from hot flushes. I was very self-conscious about it. I couldn’t run with the guys, I was swelling up, I was breathless, and when I was doing presentations, I would start sweating like a pig in front of them.

“I thought, “F**k this, I’ll have to tell the players.” I played it down because I didn’t want them distracted and told them, ‘“’I’m a little bit ill.'”

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In remission

Erasmus was ultimately able to treat the disease effectively, but there numerous side-effects and challenges along the way.

“I’m happy to say the disease did go into remission in 2022, but it’s something I have to check all the time now because you never know what’s going to happen next,” he concludes.

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