RASSIE’S TWEET ’N SOUR RILES MAKO
I wasn’t reckless says prop Vunipola
LIONS prop Mako Vunipola has hit back at Springbok claims he was reckless in the 22-17 first Test win as the social media war heats up ahead of Saturday’s rematch.
On this strangest of tours, South Africa’s director of rugby, Rassie Erasmus, used Twitter to say Vunipola, below, was being irresponsible when he tried to help Bok wing Cheslin Kolbe up from the ground last Saturday.
The Boks boss has also been retweeting highlights of clips put online by an anonymous account run in the name of Jaco Johan, mostly of incidents in which the hosts felt hard done by.
Erasmus has form with social media – he has used it to dissect Owen Farrell’s tackle technique on this tour and now has directed his fire at Vunipola.
Erasmus claimed Kolbe had been taken out in the air by scrum-half Ali Price before adding: “More importantly, for youngsters watching this clip, please never move or touch an injured player on the ground, it’s reckless and dangerous!”
But Vunipola, an impressive 56th-minute replacement, replied: “I remember trying to get the ball in but I saw that he’d gone down. I guess it’s one of those things, in the heat of the moment, you react how you would normally. He seemed to be all right, he played on in the game, so it wasn’t that reckless, was it?
“I guess if he was really hurt then it was a bit reckless, but I just felt like the collision wasn’t that bad. I saw that people were putting it up and mentioning it. We were behind at the time and wanted to get some tempo in the game so I wanted to get the ball off him.
“If I did hurt him, I apologise but, in the heat of the moment, you just react as you would naturally.”
Interestingly, Erasmus’s official account, which has around 36,000 followers, follows only three people: Lions skipper Alun Wyn Jones, lock Maro Itoje and the mysterious Jaco Johan. Erasmus’s real first name is Johan, fuelling speculation that he might be running a burner account.
Erasmus, who also used his account to congratulate the Lions on Saturday, won a huge amount of support for the way he conducted the Boks’ World Cup-winning campaign in 2019.
But he is losing the war of words with Lions boss Warren Gatland and the tourists’ assistant coach Steve Tandy says Erasmus would be better off airing his grievances – especially with TMOs – by the book. The South Africans were steaming after tries by Damian de Allende and Willie le Roux were chalked off by the video referee Marius Jonker.
Tandy said: “If we can keep to the proper channels, that is probably the best way around that because it’s a tough job for players, coaches, and definitely for referees too.”