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Cape Town - Rassie Erasmus expects to be at Irish club Munster next season, despite reported attempts from SA Rugby to lure him back to South Africa.
Afrikaans newspaper, Rapport, reported at the weekend that negotiations between SA Rugby and Munster to bring Erasmus back to South Africa were at an advanced stage.
However, when probed on the matter at a press conference in Ireland, Erasmus dismissed the talk as premature speculation.
"As I've said to a few of the guys, I've worked in South Africa for 16 years. I've got a lot of friends there and I speak to them weekly on a formal and informal basis. Some have been requests, some have been pure chats. It's really speculation at this stage. I've got an IRFU contract which is three years. As I say, it's just speculation,” Erasmus was quoted as saying by Irish publications News Talk and Independent.ie.
But a subsequent report on the Independent.ie website indicated that Erasmus’ future remains unclear after he revealed he has a release clause in his contract with Munster and the Irish Rugby Football Union.
It’s similar clause similar to the one which allowed Pat Lam to leave Irish club Connacht for Bristol earlier this season.
However, Erasmus insists it's not an extra-ordinary contract.
"Do I expect to be at Munster next season? Yes I do," he said. "I do. Just because I have a contract with Munster. I will never go outside my contract and outside the clauses and not honour a contract if there isn't something stipulated there.
"I have a standard IRFU contract. Obviously there are some clauses there, the same as Pat Lam had in his, but otherwise it's the standard contract.”
Erasmus joined Munster as their director of rugby in April last year after reportedly falling out with then-SA Rugby president Oregan Hoskins, and shortly after the appointment of Allister Coetzee as Springbok coach.
He was SA Rugby's high performance manager.
Under Erasmus’s guidance, Munster have flourished this season, at one stage winning 14 out of 15 games.
They are currently two points behind PRO12 leaders Leinster.
