Former Wales and Lions head coach Warren Gatland has taken aim at former rival Rassie Erasmus.
Gatland’s comments come in the wake of Erasmus’s latest Twitter tirade following his Springbok sides loss to France in Marseille.
Speaking in a column in the Telegraph, Gatland said, “We don’t see other directors of rugby or head coaches doing the same thing. I think it’s a little bit disappointing. There is a process in place for people to do reports after games and get feedback. And I would like to see Rassie follow that process,” Gatland wrote.
“I can’t particularly see a defence there for what he’s doing. I don’t think it’s a great look for the game. The last thing we need is coaches taking this [social] media [approach] and making comments about the game.”
“After every game, you pick out things and send in clips where you want clarification and that’s the process you go through,” Gatland continued. “Referees, the good ones, will come back and put their hands up on calls they’ve got wrong and you accept that, because it’s human nature. We’re going to make mistakes, they can’t see everything, things are happening so quickly and you understand people aren’t going to see every situation.
“I just think as coaches and administrators, there is a process and we need to keep our counsel. You would like to think that someone will pull Erasmus aside, whether it’s someone from the South African Rugby Union or their CEO or there’s a phone call, to tell Rassie: ‘I don’t think you’re doing yourself any favours, or World Rugby any favours by putting these things out on social media’. Let the public do that and go through the right processes.”
Just what Erasmus’s goal is with the constant social media outbursts remains to be seen. There can be doubting that the man is a rugby genius however it would appear he is beginning to catch the ire of the rugby public and coaches a like.
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