Erasmus’ rants keep refs away
Referees are growing increasingly reluctant to take charge of test matches involving South Africa, having seen their families threatened after Rassie Erasmus’s targeted criticism of them.
Erasmus, 50, the South Africa director of rugby, was suspended by World Rugby for the second time in a year for publishing a series of clips on social media highlighting tight refereeing calls in Springbok games.
He was banned from having any involvement in two matches, the test against Italy last weekend and the final match of their tour, against England this Sunday. He is unable to attend Twickenham, or comment on social media for the rest of this week.
Erasmus had only returned to the South African coaching box in September, having served a 12-month suspension for his infamous 62-minute video that dissected refereeing decisions during the 2021 British & Irish Lions series.
The Times understands that a number of referees are now uneasy about officiating tests that involve the world champions, concerned that they and their families will become targets for vitriolic abuse if South Africa lose.
Both Nic Berry, the Australian who took charge of the first Lions test last year, and the Englishman Wayne Barnes, the referee Erasmus targeted after the loss to France this month, have received death threats on the back of his criticism.
It is understood their families and children have also been targeted online, via Instagram and Twitter, and threatened with violence.
Erasmus’ tactics are not a recent ploy. It is also believed that in 2018, when South Africa lost 32-19 to Argentina in the Rugby Championship, he sent an extraordinarily angry email to Angus Gardner, the Australian referee who has been slated to officiate Sunday’s match against England at Twickenham.
The South African Rugby Union (SARU) is yet to comment publicly on Erasmus’ ban, which was handed out last Thursday, and the man himself does not believe his actions warranted another ban.
The RFU wrote a strongly worded letter to the SARU condemning Erasmus’ behaviour, having seen the abuse Barnes and his family suffered.
The criticism Barnes received included a post from the wife of the Springbok wing Cheslin Kolbe, who suggested France had paid him a bribe. Layla Kolbe later deleted the post on Instagram.
It is a seriously worrying development for World Rugby, and the sport itself, which is now in a situation where views are entrenched on both sides and referees may not want to officiate South Africa games with less than a year to go until the team defend the World Cup in France.
Alan Gilpin, World Rugby chief executive, said that the governing body had to act quickly to ban Erasmus. His previous ban took four months to deliver, but the regulations have been beefed up so that those who step out of line can be sanctioned more rapidly.
‘‘We know Rassie doesn’t agree with the sanction, but it’s pretty important from a World Rugby perspective to say that respect for match officials is an absolute fundamental given in the game,’’ Gilpin said.
‘‘Everyone, including Rassie and South African Rugby, were frustrated with the length of the process last time. We certainly were. One of the things we looked at on the back of that were the protocols we have around communication pre and post-match between the coaching setup and match officials.
‘‘That’s a confidential process we reinforced the importance of. One part of it was saying we have to have some teeth, and sanctions, so if someone breaches the respect that protocol needs, then there are sanctions. That’s what we’ve used this time to move more quickly.
‘‘South African Rugby have accepted the position we’ve taken. They’ve got their own challenges with how they’ve got to approach that. Rassie is an employee of SA Rugby. I’m sure Rassie doesn’t necessarily agree with the decision, but we’ve got to move forward from that. Part of that is a dialogue about what’s working and what’s not.’’