OPINION: The problem with being rugby’s master manipulator and a prominent upholder of the spirit of the game is that one needs to be across all the details, lest one appear to be a hypocrite – or worse.
Furthermore, there’s a fine line between being colourful, entertaining and a bit of a rogue in front of the media and gaslighting your audience.
In my opinion, the final straw came yesterday when Rassie Erasmus addressed the press after announcing his team on the Monday (local time) before the third Test.
Putting aside the near pointlessness of such an exercise, given the changes he made to his team throughout last week, his claim that he didn’t want to pressure the referees doesn't hold water.
This was a reference to Dave Rennie’s answer to a question following his team’s 33-26 defeat in Cape Town when the All Blacks coach said he still had concerns about the way the Springboks scrummaged.
Erasmus’ latest? “We don’t want to put more pressure on the referees through the media,” he said. “If you talk about changing three players before a match which was tactical and people say it’s against the laws and the spirit of the game… surely coming to a press conference and naming things – that’s out there now. It’s another tactic to do it that way.
“That’s the frustrating part. I’m friends with him [Rennie] but I understand what he’s trying to do… as long as that doesn’t succeed – but Nika [Amashukeli] is a sharp referee, he comes from Georgia, he knows scrums.”
Erasmus swapped out his entire front row minutes before kick-off at DHL Stadium in what he described as a tactical move based on drier than expected weather conditions.
Loosehead prop Ox Nche, named to start in the No.1 jersey in what was his 50th Test, instead wore a No.17 jersey – specially embroidered to commemorate his achievement – which suggested Nche’s place on the bench had been planned from the start.
Under the regulations of this “Greatest Rivalry” series, such changes are permitted but they would not be for a World Cup match. Whether it is in the spirit of the game is up for debate.
There may be an innocent explanation for Nche’s “50th Test” No.17 jersey. There is a possibility that a No.1 jersey in Nche’s size was also stitched to signify his milestone.
Also, Erasmus has former international referee Jaco Peyper in his camp for law interpretations and occasional press conference appearances so it is possible too that he also has a commercial embroidery company on constant standby.
But my scepticsm of Erasmus’ explanations and his apparent frustration at Rennie’s use of the media to get his message across to match officials should be viewed in a wider context.
This is a man who was banned for two months by World Rugby for releasing a one-hour video which critiqued in the finest detail the performance of referee Nic Berry during the 2021 British and Irish Lions tour of South Africa.
This is a man, too, who, following the second Test victory against the All Blacks last weekend, criticised Rennie for talking about his issue with the Boks’ scrummaging tactics and then unleashed a stream-of-consciousness response about alleged All Blacks’ high tackles.
“If he’s going to start moaning about stuff like that then play under pressure because last week we didn’t moan after there were clear head contacts a lot of the time and today in the first 40 there were four head contacts and nothing was done about it and then Lood [de Jager] gets a yellow [card],” Erasmus said.
The Rassie v Rennie sideshow has been an occasionally entertaining diversion during a Test series which has lived up to the hype.
But Erasmus’ latest meltdowns, including dropping an “f-bomb” in a press conference, have made it all a bit tawdry.
As former All Blacks skipper Kieran Read said recently on the Good, Bad and the Rugby podcast regarding coaches’ media “mind games”: “Coaches have been doing it for a long time but Rassie is the absolute king of it.”
Read also said the All Blacks would treat it all with “a grain of salt”.
Hopefully, referee Amashukeli will see it the same way in Soweto on Sunday morning.
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