Rassie in dog box, no-one else in ‘cite’

NEXT week, SA Rugby’s director of rugby Rassie Erasmus will answer World Rugby’s charges against him of bringing the game into disrepute, but I wonder if the right party will be in the dock.

Okay, I understand that with SA Rugby being affiliated to World Rugby, there are rules that must be adhered to prevent anarchy, and technically Erasmus has done this by breaking the 11th commandment, which is: “Thou Shalt Not Criticise the Referees in Public”.

World Rugby is furious because Erasmus has not followed the usual channels open to disaffected rugby teams when they want clarification on issues.

But what if those channels are well-worn ruts on the road to nowhere?

Rugby coaches have been sending video clips to World Rugby since before they were the International Rugby Board, for heaven’s sake, and the fact that nothing ever gets done is timeously illustrated by the complete lack of action taken by World Rugby’s appointed officials after one of the most ill-tempered Test matches for many a year.

So Erasmus has been “cited” for misconduct, but there is no case to answer for pressing a knee into the neck of a prone player; a certain wing has spear-tackled and tripped opponents but is free to play on Saturday; there have been armless shoulder charges from both the Springboks and the British & Irish Lions; alleged bitings; illegal scrumming to the point of putting a prop out of rugby for some time; and an aerial collision that could have had deadly repercussions was not cited ...

It really is difficult to believe that after two bloodthirsty Test matches every player of both squads has not had so much as a blot on their disciplinary records.

The maker of a video, though, will feel the wrath of World Rugby.

Going back to the 23 incidents that made up Erasmus’ movie, what is worse —the litany of errors made by the officials or the fact that Erasmus exposed them?

He made the public aware so that pressure can be put on World Rugby because if he had been a good boy and done what he was supposed to do, nothing would have changed.

SA Rugby have also been charged with misconduct, along with its director, because Erasmus would have informed Jurie Roux of his plans, and he would have been backed.

Erasmus would have argued that taking steps to ensure fairness in the second Test would give the Boks a good chance of levelling the series. He would have contended that by thrusting himself into the spotlight he would take all of the heat off his players so that they could concentrate on winning.

And with the series now level at 1-1, can you imagine how the Boks players are going to respond in the third Test against the Lions this Saturday knowing that their boss has sacrificed himself on the World Rugby altar for their benefit?