The owner of South African rugby franchise the Sharks has vowed to employ a crack team of New York lawyers to defend Rassie Erasmus and 'put World Rugby on trial'.
Earlier this week, it emerged that Springboks director of rugby Erasmus would face disciplinary action for his pre-match antics ahead of the second Test against the Lions.
In charging Erasmus with a breach of its code of conduct, World Rugby stated: “Match officials are the backbone of the sport, and without them there is no game.
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"World Rugby condemns any public criticism of their selection, performance or integrity which undermines their role, the well-established and trust-based coach-officials feedback process, and more importantly, the values that are at the heart of the sport.
"The extensive and direct nature of the comments made by Rassie Erasmus within a video address, in particular, meets the threshold to be considered a breach of World Rugby Regulation 18 (Misconduct and Code of Conduct) and will now be considered by an independent disciplinary panel."
However, Sharks owner Marco Masotti is now prepared to give Erasmus backing and provide top American lawyers to help fight the case.
He tweeted: "I have a team of New York lawyers ready to take care of Rassie and SA Rugby.
"Let us put World Rugby on trial."
Masotti led a consortium that acquired a controlling stake in the Sharks earlier this year.
He is a partner at the Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton and Garrison law firm and is dubbed "one of the country’s leading lawyers in the alternative asset management industry."
Now he has given his backing to Erasmus, to help fight the charge he is facing.
In the days leading up to the second Test, Erasmus interacted with an anonymous Twitter account that was critical of referee Nic Berry's performance in the first Test.
He then released an hour-long video, detailing a strong of perceived injustices that went against his side.
