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Rassiegate: SA Rugby and Erasmus issue joint statement in wake of WR ruling
By PA
SA Rugby and Springboks Director of Rugby Rassie Erasmus have issued a joint statement in wake of World Rugby’s disciplinary ruling this evening, confirming that they will appeal the decision.
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Erasmus has been banned from all rugby activity for two months after six charges of misconduct against him were upheld.
The charges were brought by World Rugby in response to Erasmus’ behaviour towards match officials during the Springboks’ 2-1 series victory over the British and Irish Lions in the summer.
Erasmus is also suspended from all match-day activities, including coaching and media engagement, until September 30, 2022.
It means the mastermind of South Africa’s 2019 World Cup triumph will play no part in Saturday’s clash with England at Twickenham.
Erasmus and SA Rugby, who also faced two charges, have confirmed in a statement that they will appeal the decisions.
Erasmus used social media to highlight refereeing inconsistencies, starting with the Lions’ defeat to South Africa ‘A’, and after the first Test released an hour-long video critiquing the performance of the officials.
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The charges upheld by an independent misconduct committee included attacking, disparaging and/or denigrating the game and match officials and not accepting the authority of match officials.
BREAKING: The authorities have clamped down heavily on Springboks director of rugby Rassie Erasmus following his Lions tour outburst #Springboks
https://t.co/TToLYAy83W— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) November 17, 2021
The first charge said that Erasmus threatened a match official that unless a requested meeting took place, he would publish footage containing clips criticising the match official’s performance and then made good on that threat.
Erasmus has also been given warning as to his future conduct and must apologise to the relevant match officials.
SA Rugby was charged with allowing Erasmus to commit acts of misconduct and for permitting captain Siya Kolisi and assistant coach Mzwandile Stick to make comments at a press conference on July 30 that were not “disciplined or sporting and adversely affected the game of rugby”.
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Both counts were upheld by the independent misconduct committee, who fined the union £20,000, issued a warning over future conduct and ordered an apology be made to the relevant match officials.
The joint statement from SA Rugby and Erasmus in response to the judgement reads: “SA Rugby and Rassie Erasmus have noted the decision of World Rugby’s judicial committee.
“Both parties confirmed they will exercise their rights to appeal the verdicts.
“Neither party will make any further comment until the process is complete.”
first of all rugby's values are integrity passion soldarity respect as sighted by world rugby website.
from South africans pov rassie embody s this all to a T maybe not by all. the rest of the world as of late not so much. rassie sending the video in saffas eyes did this cause he was the first to stand up for the boks. the springbok team has been judge throughout history harshly from either for how we play the game or from south africas history with apartheid. which i believe to be asinine cause the athletes cant do anything about the country their born in but thats another story my point is that rassie in my eyes was not wrong for what he did he went through the chain of command. went to nick berry went to Joël Jutge then lastly the video was supposed to go to not only world rugby but also directly towards Joël Jutge and nick berry till it got leaked which until proven otherwise is what happend that isnt extortion.
in that video rassie showed integrity by his honesty as harsh as it might be but thats critique not always nice but necessary in the video rassie is basically saying if you watch its fine if you make a call whether its right or wrong by the rules but than you have to call it both sides cause thats Fair and i believe its not the ref jobs to be right but to be fair.
passion he spoke with passion in the name of fairness for both teams and fair treatment for both teams on and of the field.
solidarity he stood with his team and still stands with is team.
respect which im sure people will dispute but but one definiton of respect is due regard for the feelings wishes or rights of others.
Rassie was standing up for siya. From WR pov theyll say what they always say do it for the better of rugby which in recent times seems to be plain lies.
WR has been built to be this monolith no one may question them or critique them even when the admitted the video was right. Rassie stood up for the boks saru unlike any other coach or director in world rugby before. To say he bought the game into disrepute is ridiculous.
From a South African, i think he got of easy. the fact that he extorted the ref with the video footage should actually come down to a civil suite and not just a minor ban. What Erasmus did was unprofessional and outside the spirit of rugby. and he thought he would come away with it since he is being glorified around every cornered and has a god complex about him.
Refs screw a lot of times, for every dodgy call made against the boks we can show one against the B&I Lions, you have to be better than the ref and 20 points ahead when a crap call is made (McCaw's words after the shock loss to France in 2007).
This ban should deter people in influential places in rugby from such situations in the future...however, world rugby now needs to establish an independent commission to ensure that referees and TMOs are also held accountable for their biasedness/other issues. Very critical...one such issue this commission could look at would be calls such as the try for Rees for wales against Fiji which was a knock on but the ref overruled the TMO while the TMO overruled the ref in the red card incident...need consistency
Of course now minor to the precedent set by Rassie, but Gats questioning Jonkers appointment should... I dont know...something, there is a sound arguement it was the genesis of this Eton mess