Rassie Erasmus has somewhat quelled speculation surrounding his Munster future.

Recent speculation surrounding the future intentions of Rassie Erasmus regarding the Springboks and whether or not he would see out his contract with Munster has done little to ease the nerves of the red army.

While the fitness of some key players has dominated the narrative in recent weeks, uncertainly surrounding the South African’s future has been loitering uncomfortably in the background.

Erasmus has been largely credited with turning Munster’s fortunes around and has achieved a huge amount in his first season in charge. In a season that has been emotionally draining for all involved in the province, Erasmus has been a steadying hand. Going about his job with a air of class and professionalism that already has him up there with some of the best Munster coaches.

The South African has kept his cards close to his chest in the last weeks when questioned about his future and consistently dismissed talks as speculation

At today’s press conference in at UL, TV3’s Sinéad Kissane faced the unenviable task of coaxing more information from the tight-lipped South African and, oddly enough, Erasmus was rather more revealing in his take on his own future.

Erasmus told Kissane:

There’s really nothing happening on that front. I’m signed here with Munster, and one day I would really want to go to back to South Africa, and I would never close that door totally on myself.

I would like to go and coach the Springboks, if I’m good enough, one day. So that’s why it’s not a straight-out ‘no’. Because there’s always chat, and some of my friends are still there, so I wouldn’t stand here and say ‘no, I would never go back’. Because one day I would like to go back.

It would seem that there is nothing definitive in the pipeline that would see him depart for South Africa to take the reins of the the ailing Springboks. But he was in no doubt of his desire to return one today to manage his national team.

This was always going to be the story with a coach of this quality and for the South African Rugby Union, it is very much a case of not knowing what you have until it’s gone.

Let’s hope Erasmus can guide Munster to success over the next few weeks. The fact that he has them challenging for two trophies this year speaks volume about the impact he’s had in such a short time.