World Rugby also released a statement saying: “World Rugby welcomes the public apology from SA Rugby and Rassie Erasmus to the match officials involved in the first test between South Africa and the British and Irish Lions this year and the matter is closed.”
Erasmus, as a result of his suspension, missed last weekend’s fixture between England and South Africa at Twickenham, with the world champions narrowly losing 27-26.
The six charges brought against Erasmus included threatening a match official that, unless a requested meeting took place, he would publish footage containing clips criticising the match official’s performance and then making good on that threat, and for also engaging in conduct or activity that may impair public confidence in the integrity and good character of match officials and for bringing the game into disrepute.
SA Rugby, meanwhile, were sanctioned for not ensuring that Erasmus “complied with the World Rugby Code of Conduct and/or permitted Mr Erasmus to commit acts of misconduct”, along with not preventing captain Siya Kolisi and assistant coach Mzwandile Stick from making “comments at a press conference on July 30, 2021 that were not disciplined or sporting and adversely affected the game of rugby”.
Analysis: An unsavoury saga finally comes to an end
The withdrawal by Rassie Erasmus and SA Rugby of their appeals, and their apologies to Nic Berry and the match officials who took charge of that first Lions Test in the summer, welcomingly bring one of the sport’s uglier off-field moments in recent years to a close.
It always seemed unlikely that Erasmus and SA Rugby would successfully overturn World Rugby’s sanctions anyway, with the governing body set on sending a message that abuse of match officials will not be tolerated and standing firmly behind Nic Berry and his officials. Berry’s testimony, detailing how the public attack on my integrity and character” affected him, makes for uncomfortable reading.
Even if you sympathise with the frustrations of Erasmus regarding some of Berry’s decisions – and the most absurd part about the saga is that at times Erasmus makes some strong points – the manner of his approach was always going to result in World Rugby dropping a ton of bricks on Erasmus and SA Rugby given his actions. The feedback system between coaches and referees is certainly not above reform. But this was hardly the right way to go about fixing it.
Reading the full written decision, it’s absurd that Berry responded to Erasmus’ email and commented on each of the 36 grievances raised, with Berry agreeing that on 17 occasions the wrong call had been made, only for Erasmus to reply to Berry with a brief response – “Thank you.” – before the video critiquing Berry was then uploaded anyway.
While opting to appeal the sanctions handed down by World Rugby might have made sense at the time last week to save face, it really only prolonged the lingering bad will from a series which, the result aside, nobody needs to spend any more time thinking about given the bad blood from both sides off the field, the lack of home and away supporters and also the dour rugby, at least until the third Test.
What does it mean for Erasmus, exactly? Based on his Twitter feed he seems to currently be having a good enough time, toasting his Australian counterpart Dave Rennie in XiTsonga on Thursday with a couple of shots, after Rennie’s own impassioned outburst against match officials last weekend following the Wallabies’ loss in Cardiff. “Coach Rennie, this one (drink) is very cold and it’s waiting for you.”
