World Rugby has responded to Rassie Erasmus’ hour-long video highlighting officiating discrepancies in the first Test between the Springboks and British & Irish Lions.
On Thursday morning, a video of the SA Rugby director of rugby highlighting in detail a number of officiating inconsistencies, including instances where he felt officials showed the South Africans a lack of respect, went viral on social media.
This comes in the week following the first Test between South Africa and Irish Lions, where Erasmus brought attention to some of the calls that went against the Boks.
In the one of the clips, Erasmus accuses Nic Berry of showing a lack of respect to Bok captain Siya Kolisi, saying the Australian referee paid far more attention to Lions captain Alun Wyn Jones. Erasmus was also left frustrated with the contributions of the touch judges, New Zealand’s Ben O’Keefe and France’s and Mathieu Raynal.
The same refereeing panel will be in charge of the second Test, with O’Keefe serving as referee and Berry joining Raynal on the sidelines. South Africa’s Marius Jonker will again be the Televion Match Official (TMO).
Erasmus could face sanctions from World Rugby for his outspoken criticism, with the game’s governing body issuing the following statement:
“World Rugby notes the comments made by Rassie Erasmus. The nature of these will be raised with the union via the usual official channels and no further comment will be made at this stage.”
Photo: Steve Haag Sports
