'I am surprised SA Rugby are allowing it to happen' - Woodward brands Erasmus 'comical'

World Cup-winning coach Clive Woodward has branded Rassie Erasmus ‘comical’ in his latest column in the Daily Mail.

The Springboks Director of Rugby has been used as a ‘waterboy’ by the Springboks in both the first Test against the Lions in Cape Town and during the Lions versus South Africa A game prior. The suggestion of course is that his skills as a strategist are being used by the Springboks and that the decorated coach is not necessarily just dispensing H2O.

“It is clear that Erasmus has started taking over again, he is running around in a tracksuit and donning the water carrier bib even though — as Gatland observed last week — he never seems to dispense any water, nor even carry a bottle!,” Woodward wrote in his column. “He never forgets his clipboard, though.

The kiwi take on the first test of the Lions v Springboks series | Aotearoa Rugby Pod

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“It looked comical, it was comical, and I am surprised South African Rugby are allowing it to happen.

“Erasmus is still coaching the team in all but name, but that’s not his job. He needs to butt out.

Woodward has suggested that Erasmus should take a step back from the Springboks on the coaching front and that Warren Gatland is ‘eating him for breakfast’.

“His job now is to appoint the coaching team and let them get on with it, offering advice when asked but no more. He has become centre stage again. All the pre-match banter is conducted between him and Gatland — and Warren is eating him for breakfast.

“And it’s affecting the team. South Africa are making bad decisions. Their starting front row were excellent on Saturday and should have stayed on as a group until deep into the second half. Instead they were pulled off at half-time and the so-called Bomb Squad called on, a relic of Erasmus’s ploy at the World Cup.”

It’s the latest volley sent the way of Erasmus, who took fire after it was suggested that he was using a burner account to air questionable calls following the Springboks’ 22 – 17 loss to the Lions in Cape Town on Saturday.