Schalk Brits explains what sets Rassie Erasmus apart from other Bok coaches

The retired hooker worked under Erasmus during his time at the Stormers, before the Bok boss convinced him to delay his retirement to be part of his squad for the 2019 Rugby World Cup.

Brits believes that Erasmus' frank and transparent conversations that he has with players mean that the squad becomes incredibly loyal to him.

"Loyalty goes both ways so if you sign the contract you need to perform and you need to put the effort in and at the same time the coach needs to give you feedback," Brits said on The Good, the Bad and the Rugby South Africa podcast.

"So a lot of the time in the earlier days there wasn't a lot of feedback coming from coach to player and from my perspective, they wanted to sugarcoat you to keep you in the system and keep you from not going somewhere else.

"For me, it is better to rather be honest and say to the player 'Look I don't want the type of player you are or you're not pulling your weight', there needs to be that transparency and honesty to either tell the player where he needs to improve or why you're not picking him then at least the player knows what he needs to work on.

"When you're in la la land and you don't know why you're not being picked or it's been said that you going to be on rotation and another player is going to be given a chance and you wait two or three games and the rotation never comes back you're like 'Oh my goodness you said that [and didn't deliver]', and that's where trust is very important between coach and player."

This is where Brits believes Erasmus is different from the other Bok coaches he worked with as there were no private conversations between players and coaches which meant everyone was on the same page.

"What I've experienced and maybe it's changed but within the Springboks set-up it was very transparent," he added.

"It's not a one-on-one session, I've been with Springboks coaches where when we talk as hookers and we all get different messages and you go 'What the hell is this' because the players talk too. With our conversations with Rassie, all three hookers were there and no disguise in the message then you know exactly where the rotation would be.

"What is interesting as a player is if the coach tells you that you're playing in three weeks and he keeps to his word, even if if they've lost or won then you build loyalty towards you as coach, and that is one thing that Rassie has been phenomenal with.

"Maybe it's different now but I mean he did an amazing rotation and beat Aus twice and he changed the whole squad."

Current Springboks forward Elrigh Louw joined Brits on the podcast and confirmed that Erasmus has not changed tack in the years that followed the hooker's retirement.

Erasmus made 10 changes to his starting XV following the victory over Australia in their Rugby Championship opener and still claimed a convincing win over the Wallabies in the second Test.

Louw revealed that the Bok boss told the players of his plans but did not guarantee that the wholesale changes would happen.

"Rassie was always open with us and he told us that he's not making any promises but that this is his plan and this is what he wants to do so luckily we got the result in the first Test and that made it a bit easier for him to make the rotations for the second Test," Louw said.

"I think we just showed what type of depth we have in South Africa by making 10 changes and still getting the five points in Australia."