A surreal summer continues to get weirder for Rassie Erasmus after a new video surfaced, in which the South Africa director offered to “step away” from their series with the British and Irish Lions.
The Springboks find themselves trailing in the series after suffering a 22-17 defeat at Cape Town Stadium, and a second loss this Saturday would cement a tour win for the Lions.
South Africa were left frustrated following two disallowed tries, while Lions flanker Hamish Watson likely should have been shown a yellow card for a tip tackle in the second half.
Erasmus, 48, highlighted that and much more in a new hour-long video post, questioning a series of incidents from the first Test that he considered unfair against his side.
The most controversial snippet from the video came when Erasmus offered to leave South Africa’s management staff if his actions were deemed inappropriate.
“I have previous encounters where I’ve made mistakes, saying things in public about referees and that normally comes back to bite you,” he said.
“But in this instance, the Lions only comes around every 12 years.
"And I think it should be fair that I’ll step away from these last two Test matches, but let the Springboks and the Lions have an equal chance on the field when it comes to laws, respect and the way that players get treated.”
It’s also worth noting the video was posted by an account called ‘JJ’, the same initials as ‘Jaco Johan’, a mysterious Twitter account with which Erasmus denied any links earlier this week.
Jacques Nienaber is the head coach of South Africa, but it’s a widely held belief that Erasmus is still very much the commander-in-chief of the national rugby team.
Nevertheless, World Rugby laws dictate only coaches are prevented from acting as water carriers on the pitch during breaks in play, a loophole Erasmus has exploited already on this tour.
The director continued to say he would stop the practice if necessary, suggesting he had recorded and posted the most recent video without the knowledge of his Springbok colleagues.
“If this causes that I’m not allowed to be water carrier that’s fine, I’ll step away,” he continued.
"If we’re going to get a fine, I’ll step away from the management team.
"If this means the Springboks will get in trouble I’ll say I did this personally, because I believe in fairness, the system and two teams having an equal chance of competing in a match.
“I'm not saying the referee was a cheat at all, saying we just wanted clarity on a Sunday night, which we now have on a Tuesday, which I personally am not very convinced with the clarity we had from [first Test referee] Nic Berry.”
The post has had a mixed response within the rugby community, with Rugby World’s Paul Williams suggesting this could be the beginning of a new norm for coaches:
Williams tweeted: “Rassie has always done things differently. And this may be the future for all coaches.
“I don't see what's wrong with a coach telling us their thoughts in a direct manner.
“We all know broadly what they think about certain issues. This just makes it clearer.”
Others disagreed with that logic and argued there will always be marginal decisions that could go in favour of either team, with it being almost impossible to satisfy all parties.
Journalist Andy McGeady tweeted concern that such videos undermined the work of the officials, meanwhile, and risked setting a dangerous precedent:
He wrote: “This Rassie video is actually very important.
“i.e. it's very important that World Rugby comes down on it like a ton of bricks. You can't be piling on the officials like this. This is the TOP LEVEL OF THE GAME. It sets the tone. Everything filters down.”
Berry wasn’t the only official to be subject of criticism from Erasmus, who questioned television match official Marius Jonker for a number of his decisions.
Erasmus also highlighted the actions of counterpart Warren Gatland, who previously suggested Faf de Klerk should have seen red during the Lions’ 17-13 warm-up defeat to South Africa ‘A’.
The Springboks supremo noted he “saw it as banter” posting video clips on Twitter in response to those comments: “Before a big Test match, they put some pressure, we put some pressure on.”
Pressure is mounting ahead of Saturday’s second Test back in Cape Town, a must-win for the hopeful Lions but even more so for South Africa.
World Cup -winner Erasmus may well be more desperate to see the hosts pull level than any of his players, but there are questions now as to whether he’ll even see out the series.
