Don’t pull us into Rassie referee row

WARREN GATLAND is dismayed that the British & Irish Lions were criticised alongside South Africa when World Rugby charged Springboks director of rugby Rassie Erasmus with misconduct.

Erasmus, below, will face a hearing after the series against the Lions, which will be decided at Cape Town Stadium on Saturday, to answer for the hour-long video in which he attacked the performance of the officials from the first Test.

But in announcing the disciplinary action, World Rugby also took aim at the tourists by stating that it is “concerned that individuals from both teams have commented on the selection and/or performance of match officials”.

A reminder of the importance of respecting officials and of the values of the sport have also been issued but Gatland, above, objects to being bracketed alongside Erasmus, who has repeatedly used social media to campaign against the Lions and highlight refereeing mistakes.

Gatland insists his opposition to the appointment of Marius Jonker, a South African, as TMO for the series was because of World Rugby’s lack of foresight rather than concerns over impartiality.

“The only thing I’m disappointed about in World Rugby’s statement is that they’ve inadvertently dragged us into it,” said Gatland. “We’ve tried to maintain as much integrity as we can, in terms of we haven’t been commenting on refereeing.

“We never questioned the TMO. The only question we asked is why hadn’t World Rugby put a contingency plan in place if people couldn’t travel or got sick. So I’m disappointed with the part of the statement where they’ve sort of said both sides have been making comments and being critical of the officials.

“I’d like someone to show me where we have done that. We’ve looked through everything and we can’t see any instances where we’ve been critical of the officials.”