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Erasmus not happy with World Rugby's failure to provide clarity on the rules swiftly

Mahlatse Mphahlele Sports reporter
Rassie Erasmus of South Africa during the Castle Lager Lions Series 1st Test match between South Africa and British and Irish Lions at Cape Town Stadium on July 24, 2021 in Cape Town, South Africa.
Rassie Erasmus of South Africa during the Castle Lager Lions Series 1st Test match between South Africa and British and Irish Lions at Cape Town Stadium on July 24, 2021 in Cape Town, South Africa.
Image: EJ Langner/Gallo Images

Rassie Erasmus says World Rugby's failure to provide a swift response to questions about the rules has negatively impacted on the Springboks' plans for the second Test against the British & Irish Lions in Cape Town on Saturday.

The Springboks’ narrow 22-17 defeat to the Lions in the first match was dominated by inconsistent officiating from referee Nic Berry‚ television match official (TMO) Marius Jonker and the touch judges.

As they awaited clarity on the rules from World Rugby‚ Erasmus lit up social media and at the same time riled up the Lions camp by pointing out some incidents where crucial refereeing decisions went against the Boks.

“That takes a bit of a while‚ we tried to get hold of World Rugby on Sunday but they didn’t come back to us‚” he said.

“On Monday they didn’t come back to us and [on Tuesday morning] we got the report back. It takes a bit of a while to get the full report back. We got the report [on Tuesday morning] but already Monday is done and our second training [was on Tuesday afternoon].

“So when you get it only on Tuesday morning‚ it does disrupt your week in terms of team selection and what things you want to rectify. [Bok coach Jacques Nienaber] had wanted to work on things to employ‚ we really tried hard to make contact with them on Sunday night.

“We sent through clips to them needing some guidance and help on certain things that we can fix‚ and maybe change in our team selection‚ but unfortunately they said their processes are the same with the Six Nations.

“We could not have known that because we don’t play there in the Six Nations‚ but they said they normally give feedback on a Tuesday. We will see if in the one training that is still left‚ maybe [we can] try to implement some of those things.”

- TimesLIVE



Source: ARENA Holdings.