By the turn of professionalism in rugby union in 1995, Erasmus continued to develop as a leading loose forward for his province, and was selected for the Free State's debut season in the 1997 Super 12.
In his second match for the Springboks, on 23 August that same year, Erasmus played Australia, starting at flank, and scored a try, with South Africa winning 61–22 in Pretoria.
[citation needed] Having firmly established himself as a starting flanker for South Africa, Erasmus joined the Cats ahead of the 1998 Super 12 season, where he continued to ply his trade until 2001.
[citation needed] After leaving the Cats at the end of the 2001 Super 12 season, and missing out on selection for the 2001 Tri Nations Series, Erasmus returned to the Free State ahead of the 2001 Currie Cup.
Later that year the Free State Cheetahs retained their Currie Cup title, however they had to share the trophy with the Blue Bulls after the score remained even after extra time, 28–28, and no other criteria separating the teams.
Following the 2007 Super 14 season, Erasmus left the Cheetahs set up after being appointed technical adviser to the Springboks ahead of the 2007 Rugby World Cup.
However his time was cut short, after he joined the Western Province set-up as director of rugby effective immediately ahead of their 2007 Currie Cup campaign.
[8] With this new system, the region gained great success in 2010, with both the Stormers and Western Province progressing to the finals, only to lose to come runner-up in their respective tournaments.
[citation needed] In April 2011, it was announced that Erasmus will be part of the Springboks management team at the 2011 Rugby World Cup as a technical specialist.
Despite that he was meant to return to his duties with the Stormers and Western Province post World Cup, he quit the region in January 2012 to look for other coaching options.
[10][11] After Heyneke Meyer was named as Peter de Villiers' replacement in January 2012, Erasmus was appointed General Manager: High Performance teams, in April of that year.
In April 2016, it was confirmed that Erasmus would be joining Irish provincial side Munster as the Director of Rugby on a three-year contract, beginning on 1 July 2016.
The 2018 end-of-year tour for South Africa saw the team face mixed result; losing to England and Wales whilst beating France and Scotland.
[citation needed] The 2019 Rugby World Cup saw South Africa claim one of their greatest victories by winning the title for a third time despite a loss to New Zealand in the group stages.
[citation needed] Erasmus feels that factors affecting rugby success are consistency in selection, rhythm and momentum, having few injuries, and luck (as top level games are often very close and can depend on one bounce of a ball or penalty).
[27] He also acted as a water boy during the tour in order to directly give instructions on the pitch, which was criticised by Lions coach Warren Gatland for being unsporting.
[30] In 2022, he posted several videos shared with ironic messages on his official Twitter account to complain about referee calls after Springboks losses to Ireland on 5 November,[31] and France a week later.
[32] Former international referee Nigel Owens condemned Erasmus' behaviour following the controversy,[33] after many other columnists criticized him and called these kind of comments "bitter" or "ridiculous".
[37] A few weeks after the feud, referee Wayne Barnes revealed that his family were threatened following Erasmus' tweets; his wife receiving rape threats and his kids being targeted for a few days.