Rassie Erasmus and Shukri Conrad: Powerhouses shaping South African rugby and cricket
The Springboks and the Proteas may just have more in common than first meets the eye, and that was the consensus reached by Rassie Erasmus and Shukri Conrad over good old-fashioned braai in Cape Town earlier this year.
The respective national cricket and rugby coaches had a chat during the second Test between the Proteas and Pakistan earlier this year, when the topic of how the two different sporting codes could work together came up.
The Springboks are currently in their second alignment camp ahead of a busy international season, while the Proteas are about to jet off to England to take on Australia in the final of the World Test Championship at Lord's in London starting on June 11.
What began as an informal chat quickly turned into a brainstorming session, the Proteas coach Conrad revealed.
'There's nothing quite like a good braai to break the ice,' Conrad told SportsBoom.co.za.
'Rassie and I started talking about culture, pressure, leadership, and before the boerewors was done, we both realised we were playing the same mental game, just on different pitches.'
Conrad and Cricket SA's high-performance managers last week attended a session of the Springboks' alignment camp to get a better sense of how the rugby side prepared for the new season.
'We're a week out from flying to London for our biggest final ever,' said Conrad.
'Being in that room with Rassie and his coaches gave us a mental sharpening. You see what makes champions tick—and it rubs off on you.'
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