Former Springbok coach and current director of rugby (and chief waterboy) Rassie Erasmus has taken to twitter to highlight what he views as foul play by British & Irish Lions prop Mako Vunipola.
Erasmus has had a fair bit of criticism from various circles of late due to his on-field involvement when South Africa ‘A’, and then the Springboks, faced the Lions.
In the last day or so it also appears as though the World Cup winning coach has been tweeting from a fake account, posting videos that highlight referee inconsistencies against the Springboks.
This followed the loss to the Lions in the first Test in Cape Town, and included a video from an alias account (see below) that appeared fairly well edited and he replied directly to.
Today, Erasmus has gone one step further and posted a video directly on his own twitter account, basically giving up the ruse and having no qualms about fans or officials realising that it’s he who posted the other videos.
His main grievance this time, the Vunipola incident with Cheslin Kolbe.
Cheslin is obviously played in the air and clearly not direct into touch!!More importantly for youngsters watching this clip!!!! Please never move or touch an injured player on the ground, its reckless and dangerous! Leave this to the 🏥 🙏🏼@WorldRugby @Springboks @lionsofficial pic.twitter.com/lEcp5L4PBf
— Rassie Erasmus (@RassieRugby) July 26, 2021
Erasmus was unhappy with how Kolbe was played in the air and then picked up despite him looking like he may have been hurt from the hard landing.
It’s a surprising move from someone in Erasmus’s position but clearly, he feels as though it’s worth it and is perhaps attempting some kind of mind games with the officials ahead of the next Test.
The tweet naturally caused a fair bit of reaction.
@RavWilding Mate, no relevance to your reply. This tweet is about Player SAFETY and INJURY! Kolbe played in the air and landing on his back. Very irresponsible by Lions player to move him. Please define ‘actual water carries’?
— Thinus Delport (@thinusdelport) July 26, 2021
Agreed about moving injured players, but players have a responsibility to not fake injury, which he was clearly doing, or Cheslin would have gone back down for medical attention, which he didn’t 🤔
— Lee966 (@Lee96610) July 26, 2021
I’m sure trying to deceive the match officials to gain an advantage is an actual law 🤔 Mako has had enough and just wants the game to be sped up! This is not soccer!
— Aaron lewis (@Y_Tarw6) July 26, 2021
The comical nature of his tweets, from all accounts, has not been lost on some.
I’m sure trying to deceive the match officials to gain an advantage is an actual law 🤔 Mako has had enough and just wants the game to be sped up! This is not soccer!
— Aaron lewis (@Y_Tarw6) July 26, 2021
“Well, if they’re gonna stomp on my dreams… the least I can do is go out in a blaze of sour grapes” pic.twitter.com/SFlR4xuCAc
— Tom McLaughlin (@TheTomMac) July 26, 2021
But Cheslin wasn’t injured, was he?
Not sure of the relevance.I’m glad you have the time for trolling though – clearly they’re not working the highest paid waterboy too hard.
— john (@el_snoop) July 26, 2021
And if it wasn’t obvious to you already, the way this and the previous ‘Jaco Johan’ video are edited is basically exactly the same.
Respect your attitude in defeat, but there were some questionable calls. I’ll highlight a few @Springboks @lionsofficial https://t.co/aU4GgNiQ0n pic.twitter.com/2dHaomajye
— Jaco Johan (@thenosyone987) July 25, 2021
So South Africa’s director of rugby is now a twitter troll, of sorts? Here’s looking forward to the rest of the series!
The second Test match will take place next Saturday, 31 July in Cape Town.
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