Silence over Erasmus punishment is deafening

I THOUGHT I’d missed World Rugby confirming their punishment for Rassie Erasmus after his rant at the officials during the British & Irish Lions series.

When I realised the game’s governing body still hadn’t done anything official about it and in fact, I hadn’t missed any news, I was shocked.

Doing nothing sends out entirely the wrong message. It’s hugely disappointing.

I’m not calling on Erasmus to lose his job or anything as serious as that, but for the way he disrespected the game’s referees, he should be handed a long ban.

Instead, he was still able to continue with his water boy – sorry, director of rugby role – in the Rugby Championship against Argentina.

We are all taught in rugby the importance of respect, not only for the match officials, but for your team-mates and opposition.

Erasmus being dealt lighthandedly by World Rugby is basically an indication that coaches can hit out at referees, openly criticise their performances, and impact games as a result without any fear of punishment. How can we have that in our game? It is entirely unacceptable.

If anyone (mainly South African fans) thinks I’m being one sided here, I’d like to point out I played a large majority of my international career with Warren Gatland as my Wales head coach.

We all know Warren is no stranger to mind games. He is the absolute master at making certain comments in the media which will help his team at the weekend.

I’m sure Warren would admit privately he has probably crossed the line at times in his amazing career, but he did a much better job than Erasmus of behaving properly this summer.

What’s sad is that because South Africa won the series, Erasmus will possibly feel vindicated in some way. I’m sure he is seen as a hero in South Africa because he has now won the World Cup and a Lions series. His achievements shouldn’t be diminished, but I also think this summer’s series win was soured a touch by what Erasmus said.

It was unedifying and came at the wrong time.

So, come on World Rugby – get your act together because your silence on the issue – save for one small statement – is absolutely deafening right now.