The XV of France has not finished with South Africa. After their epic success (30-26) in Marseille against the world champions, the Blues are now struggling with the boss of South African rugby, Rassie Erasmus, on social networks. The former third line and coach published a series of tweets embellished with videos of Saturday’s match, on which the French made unwhistled fouls according to him. With ironic comments which Erasmus, always ready to launch polemics, is customary.
Main video relayed on the Erasmus account, seen more than half a million times, that of a relaunch of the back of the Blues Thomas Ramos, who charges his former partner in Toulouse Cheslin Kolbe with the elbow in the throat . A possible fault but not whistled. The sequence continues with a situation at the end of the match where the English referee Wayne Barnes whistles a forward against the Springboks. The pass from the back Le Roux for his opener Willemse can however seem regular. Comment from Erasmus: “We have to review our fundamentals like the technique of tackles and the simple passes. Sorry, we know. »
Rassie Erasmus gives a layer of it by publishing the extracts of a maul where Mauvaka unties his teammates, those of a ruck where Fickou goes up in an offside position, or those of two similar actions around a group where the referee whistled the foul against Boks scrum half Faf de Klerk and not against his vis-à-vis Antoine Dupont. Annoyed comment from the angry Erasmus: “The two 9s are under immense pressure… We’re just not on the right side!!! Sorry “.
Kolbe’s wife also hints
Saturday’s arbitration decisions have often been criticized in South Africa, and not just by the sulphurous Erasmus. Layla Kolbe, the wife of the Springbok winger, also went there with her allusion on Instagram. Beneath an image of Ramos charging at her husband, she wrote, “Well played France” alongside an emoji with banknotes, implying that the referee was bought off.
Another disputed fact of the game: the final try of the French pillar Falatea, granted by the referee when he seems to have crawled, that is to say advanced on the ground with the ball, which is prohibited. Rassie Erasmus, again, did not fail to relay an article from a South African site evoking this contentious action.
Erasmus, “the Trump of rugby”
Whatever the accuracy of the criticisms of the former coach, one thing is certain: he does not digest defeat. And this is not the first time. Last year, Rassie Erasmus had already criticized the referees of a test match against the British and Irish Lions, lost by the Springboks, in a video which had made the buzz. Erasmus had been suspended for two months for these criticisms.
“He’s the Donald Trump of rugby,” said Tim Percival, director of English club Northampton. Gestures like that of Ramos are “legitimate when South Africa wins, and are theft when they lose”, observes this leader who accuses Rassie Erasmus of causing great harm to rugby with his rowdy statements.