South Africa head coach and one of rugby's most provocative characters Rassie Erasmus has released a new podcast, and it was none other than Munster's Felix Jones who was in the hot seat for episode one.
The pair first began coaching together during Erasmus' tenure at Munster in 2016, just months after Felix Jones was forced to retire with a neck injury.
Since then, the pair have returned to South Africa and won back-to-back World Cups and a British and Irish Lions series with the Springboks.
While Jones temporarily departed to take up a now infamous role with England, even that proved insufficient in separating he and Erasmus, with Jones re-joining the South African coaching ticket in a more over-arching role earlier this month.
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11 September 2017; Munster technical coach Felix Jones, left, and director of rugby Rassie Erasmus during Munster Rugby squad training at the University of Limerick in Limerick. Photo by Diarmuid Greene/Sportsfile
Rassie Eramus on the first time he met Felix Jones
It all could've been very different, however, with Erasmus revealing he had travelled to Europe to interview for both the Munster job and a job in the English Premiership.
Recalling the first time he met Jones on his new podcast RASSIE +, the South African explained how it was actually key differences in the interview process which lured him to Munster, with the famously outspoken head coach not too impressed with the English club's glossy approach.
I actually flew over for two interviews, the one was at an English club and the one was at Munster.
When I got to the English club, it was all ‘Can you do media, how’s your corporate talking? And all those kinds of things.
I thought ‘Hell, I don’t think I am going to fit in here’.
The interview paled in comparison to the one he was put through in Munster, where being introduced to the likes of Paul O'Connell and Jerry Flannery among a host of other Munster veterans proved enough to convince Erasmus he belonged in Limerick.
It was in those same meetings, that one of the world's strongest coaching teams was born, with glittering recommendations of Felix Jones causing Erasmus to meet and hire a man he'd never even heard of.
But then I went to Munster I had the interview there, I chatted to most of the guys who'd been there for a while, Paul O'Connell and Jerry and alot of the guys.
Everyone said to me, listen there's this guy Felix Jones, I said I really don't know him
I asked could I have a chat with the guy, and they give me this massive suite in the hotel and I think we chatted for an hour and a half and the feeling I got was there is a real work ethic here. I think your first real coaching gig was then we appointed you.
Fast forward, you've won two World Cups.
Whatever happened in that first meeting in Limerick obviously worked wonders, because, since then the pair have created arguably the most accomplished coaching team currently operating in world rugby.
You can watch the full chat here, where Jones and Erasmus talk Munster, how much the province means to Erasmus, Jerry Flannery going mad at Erasmus, and the tragic death of Anthony 'Axel' Foley during their time at the province.
The pair, now back together, will have the mammoth task of continuing success without Jacques Nienaber who is currently with Leinster, and priming South Africa to continue it's domination of test rugby.
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