South African rugby authorities ought to have a phrase in Springbok director of rugby Rassie Erasmus’s ear and inform him to cease criticising match referees, says former Wales head coach Warren Gatland.
Erasmus has solely simply returned from a stadium ban following a World Rugby suspension for his notorious hour-long video criticising referee Nic Berry’s efficiency in the first Test between the Springboks and the British and Irish Lions final 12 months.
That didn’t cease Erasmus from publishing a number of movies on social media on Sunday and Monday that appeared to query choices made by referee Wayne Barnes throughout the Springboks’ 30-26 loss to France final Saturday.
ALSO READ: Rassie please, give up the tweeting
Gatland was head coach of the Lions on that ill-tempered tour and he wrote in his column for Wednesday’s UK Daily Telegraph that Erasmus was out of line.
“You would like to think that someone will pull Erasmus aside,” mentioned the 59-year-old New Zealander.
“Whether it’s somebody from the South African Rugby Union or their CEO or there’s a telephone name, to inform Rassie: ‘I don’t assume you’re doing your self any favours, or World Rugby any favours by placing these items out on social media’.
“Let the public do that and go through the right processes.”
Erasmus — who grew to become a nationwide hero when he coached the Springboks to the 2019 World Cup trophy — denied on Tuesday he was criticising Barnes.
He mentioned he was stating weaknesses in the staff’s show that require correcting if they’re to report their first win of the Autumn Nations Series towards Italy on Saturday.
“It’s not having a go at the referee…It’s obviously something on our side that we have to fix,” the 50-year-old mentioned.
“I think South African supporters would like to understand that, but if people put a narrative to that, that I can’t control unfortunately.”
‘Adhere to the process’
Gatland, although, didn’t purchase that argument.
“I can’t particularly see a defence there for what he’s doing,” mentioned Gatland.
“I don’t assume it’s a great look for the sport. We ought to adhere to the course of.
“The last thing we need is coaches taking this into the media and making comments about the game.”
Gatland follows former prime referee Nigel Owens in having a go at Erasmus following his newest social media postings.
The implied criticism of English referee Barnes, who surpassed Owens’s report by controlling his a hundred and first Test match final weekend, didn’t go down properly with the retired Welsh official.
“I saw these come up and I was thinking ‘is this his genuine profile? Is he doing this?’”, Owens advised the Daily Telegraph‘s rugby podcast on Tuesday.
“To me, we don’t need that in the game and I’d have thought he’d have learned his lesson by now.”
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