Cape Town – “Rassie Erasmus is the only coach/person willing to stand up against terrible and disgraceful refereeing,” one tweep said, as the Twitter world reacted to World Rugby banning Rassie once more, this time for his satirical tweets that highlighted the officiating errors that took place between France and South Africa over the weekend.
Springbok fans were speaking about some decisions made by English referee, Wayne Barnes as the Springboks lost 26-30 to France in Marseille on Saturday, November 12.
Rassie also voiced his frustrations at some of the decisions made by the officials during the game, uploading videos to Twitter to highlight a few things.
Just working through the game and all the lessons we can take from it, please if you are doing the same and see some learnings that can educate us and shows the opposite please share with us!! Will keep them coming so our ?? understand where we are at !!
— Rassie Erasmus (@RassieRugby) November 13, 2022
Twitter users seemed to be divided on whether it was the referee’s decisions that cost the Springboks the game or whether the Springboks fell victim to their own faults.
“Watching the game live last night: We witnessed a masterclass of skulduggery from the in stadium TV/replay cohort. Used the big screen to influence Barnes and the supporters like I’ve never seen. Let alone the “break in communication”. It should be monitored by world rugby,” @HaydiGFinTwit wrote.
However, other users took an opposing stance.
“Tell the gents let siya do the talking on the pitch they must just get on with the game, we focus too much on the ref if we just get on with the game and focus on us the less the ref can do. I honestly feel some of the calls went against us cause players talk to much,” said @Sandi_Dywili.
But World Rugby was not set to entertain these discussions as they issued a two-match ban against Rassie Erasmus.
“He may not take part in any match day activity in relation to the two upcoming test matches that South Africa has against Italy on 19 November, 2022 and England on 26 November, 2022. The ban includes engagement with media and social media in relation to match officials,” World Rugby said in a statement.
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“Match officials are the backbone of the sport and without them there is no game. World Rugby condemns any public criticism of match official selection, performance or integrity, which undermines their role, the trust-based coach/match officials feedback process and the values of integrity, respect, solidarity and discipline that are at the heart of the sport.
“The behaviour of coaching staff and match officials are widely observed by fans, media and participants at every level, and such behaviours affect how the values are applied across the game.
“In addition, under the Match Officials Communication Framework, national teams have the ability to enter into a confidential feedback process, which is critical for success in a high-performance environment. The success of these communications relies on direct and honest feedback which is delivered and received in a confidential way.”
? Rassie Erasmus banned from all matchday activities for two games. pic.twitter.com/tqM9YUnf5V
— Planet Rugby (@PlanetRugby) November 17, 2022
Once more, fans were divided on whether or not banning Rassie for taking to social media to highlight his concerns was the right decision.
“Rassie Erasmus is the only coach / person willing to stand up against terrible and disgraceful refereeing. We don’t have a Rassie problem we have a refereeing problem. It is a disgrace. I think it is time @netflix does some investigation as they did with @FIFAcom,” wrote @Mr_MattHolmes.
“We don’t have a Rassie problem We have an officiating problem But we only allowed to talk about Rassie, not the real problem,” Tweeted @AndreGeel.
“Dear @WorldRugby, maybe it’s time you open your eyes and actually take accountability for your ‘so called’ world class referees. So you happy to ban someone speaking out, but you do absolutely nothing against poor referee performances. Just get with the program. #RassieErasmus,” wrote @Spiro_Jess.
Both the ?? and ?? 9’s under immense pressure !! We just have to get that on side right!!Sorry ??? pic.twitter.com/srzoaBjm89
— Rassie Erasmus (@RassieRugby) November 13, 2022
Meanwhile, others supported World Rugby’s decision to ban the Springbok director of rugby.
“This isn’t helping anyone,” tweeted @thepaulwilliams.
“Rassie Erasmus is a great whinging spoilt man-child in an era of other great whinging spoilt men-children. 0 from 3 means your game plan is broken. Fix it. Stop looking outside yourselves for scapegoats,” wrote @KavanaghCk.
“At this point the international referees panel should refuse to officiate games involving South Africa until World Rugby takes action against Rassie Erasmus,” @CardiffRugbyWeb.
With all the debate about World Rugby and Erasmus, one thing is certain: the job of the referee is arguably the hardest job in rugby.
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Picture: Twitter/ @Mike_Quirke
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Compiled by Junaid Benjamin
