LETTER: Twitter rants by Rassie Erasmus will harm SA rugby

SA director of rugby Rassie Erasmus is at it again. He has just completed his banning from match day appearances, following a video assassination of international referee Nic Berry after the first Springbok vs British & Irish Lions test early in 2022.

Erasmus was upset at many of Berry’s controversial decisions, which he believed cost his side the match. His “private” video became public within hours, and while many of his claims were vindicated, Berry’s humiliation due to the use of a video to air the grievances was unacceptable to World Rugby and many overseas rugby bodies.

Now Erasmus has moved from the video medium to Twitter, using the social media site to expose the refereeing of Wayne Barnes in Marseilles on Saturday in the Bok’s narrow defeat by France, as well as the strange loss of the stadium's video link. Video footage is also used as evidence in Erasmus’s not-so-subtle tweets.

Twitter is a public site, so there can be no claim of any intention of private communication. Once again we can foresee an explosion within the world rugby community because of the methods used, as opposed to any evidence of wrongdoing or error.

Erasmus is a national hero with a brilliant rugby brain and strategic nous. His latest attack on the world’s most experienced and highly popular referee will result in Rassiegate 2. Erasmus is shooting himself in the foot, and sadly he will take this country’s wonderful rugby reputation, developed over more than a century, down with him.

We are the reigning world champions preparing to defend our crown in 2023. Can we really afford another rugby controversy at this point? Erasmus is a brilliant director of rugby, but he is not bigger than the game.

David Wolpert, Rivonia

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