TWO SIDES: Perception of one-sidedness led to Rassie taking hit for his team

The aptness of the title of the documentary on the 2021 British and Irish Lions series, Two Sides, comes through quite clearly in the second episode that will be aired for the first time on M-Net and Supersport on Sunday evening.

There may have been fears that the controversial Rassie Erasmus video, where for over an hour the South African national director of rugby highlighted concerns with the performance of referee Nic Berry in the first test, would be underplayed in the documentary series. But it isn’t, and rightly not, for it had a big impact on the mood in which the clashes between the Springboks and the touring team were played and remains part of the discourse a year later.

While the UK and Irish media reacted with outrage and indignation to the video that was sent to the World Rugby head of referees Joel Jutge, and which Erasmus insists wasn’t leaked by him (as he asks in the documentary, why would he do that?), there is another side to the story. And we get to see it on Sunday.

LIONS GOT RUMBLE IN THE JUNGLE PLAN RIGHT

To refresh memories, the Boks narrowly lost the first test at Cape Town Stadium thanks to the Lions taking control of the game in the second half after the hosts had dominated the early parts of the contest. It all went to plan for the Lions. In the episode we see Lions backline coach Gregor Townsend telling the story of the famous Rumble in the Jungle heavyweight boxing showdown between Muhammad Ali and George Foreman in Africa (Zaire).

Townsend, supported by head coach Warren Gatland, portrayed Foreman as South Africa. In other words direct, physical, attritional, relying on raw strength and hitting power to win. Ali, by contrast, had the finesse and the resilience. He rode out the Foreman assault with his rope-a-dope tactics, weathered the storm, wore down the Foreman energy, and then pounced.

The Lions were exhorted by their coaches to be Ali, and they did that in the sense that they might have considered themselves fortunate to be down just 12-3 at the break, but then, as both Erasmus and Ncoach Jacques Nienaber warned the Bok players they would do at halftime, they came out energised in the second half and scored an early try to bring them back into it.

That was the opening that the Lions needed. It took until the 62nd minute of the game for them to take the lead for the firs time, but by then the Boks, by their own admission, had been rattled by a series of incidents, among them the TMO ruling that disallowed a Willie le Roux try that would have settled the contest.

PRESSURE ON JONKER COULDN’T BE IGNORED

It was touch and go whether Le Roux was behind Lukhanyo Am when the Bok centre kicked the ball ahead, but in watching it again we are reminded that it was not clear and obvious, which it needed to be in order for the South African TMO Marius Jonker to rule out the score. We even hear the British commentators proclaim that it was a try, and from memory the UK media people present at that game were in agreement.

Jonker of course, as we see in episode 2, was placed under inordinate pressure in that game by Warren Gatland’s televised complaints about his appointment in the buildup. Gatland later apparently claimed to some of the touring media that he had been misrepresented, but in Two Sides we see him making the complaints. It is as clear as mud.

After the Le Roux try was disallowed, the Boks lost the plot and started giving away penalties. The players, who’d had a difficult build-up dominated by interruptions caused by a Covid crisis within the camp, admitted to having their resolve broken by the several calls that went against them.

On the Monday after the test, with the knowledge that no team had come back from being a test down in a Lions series in South Africa and won it since before World War 2, the Boks went through what flyhalf Handre Pollard described as his most intense day as an international player.

The Boks needed to respond, and Nienaber had harsh words to say to his team. At the same time, as part of the post-mortem, we see how the Bok coaches and players went through their analysis of the game.

NEEDED QUICK RESPONSE BUT IT DIDN’T COME

They needed a quick response from the match officials for concerns raised, as the team selection, and the plan for the second test, needed to be settled at the start of the week. At the same time, in analysing the performance of their respective areas of responsibility, the various coaches were picking up problems with the referee calls. And the weight of those concerns built up to provide the seeds for the discontent that led to the Rassie video.

“As we talked through it I became away that the attack coach had five problems with the referee and the defence coach had five things that were problematic with the referee and I personally also had five. So I thought hold on, there’s obviously a problem with the referee here,” said Erasmus.

To compound matters, Nienaber had asked for feedback from the referee, and had none had been forthcoming. He needed to have that feedback if he was going to properly start the planning for the second test.

“I need that feedback within 24 hours as when players are conceding penalties they get dropped,” said the Bok coach.

RASSIE SHOULDERED THE RESPONSIBILITY

But rather than let the build-up to the second test be overshadowed and impacted by the unhappiness at the referee, Erasmus stepped in and took it upon himself to address the issue while letting the players and coaches get on with focusing on what was going to be a do-or-die battle with the Lions on the coming Saturday.

“I will sit here and I will do the analysis with the technical guys. I will do it. You get on with your jobs,” Erasmus told Nienaber and the other coaches.

That was where the video was spawned, and he sent it to Joel Jutge, the head of referees at World Rugby. Jutge, according to Erasmus, was happy with the video and that should have been the end of the story. But it wasn’t… The video was leaked, much to Erasmus’ consternation, and to the outright condemnation of the overseas media.

Whatever the truth, what was clear from the second episode of two sides was that Erasmus, who was later sanctioned by World Rugby, took a hit for the team. His biggest concern was that they forget about the incidents that threw them off their stride in round one and focus on beating the Lions while he would do whatever was required to redress what he saw as an imbalance.

*The second episode of Two Sides will be broadcast on Sunday (M-Net, 6pm; SuperSport, 7pm).