OPINION PIECE
When it comes to Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry and the way the tour storylines have played out, there is no doubt a significant double-standard exists in the media when dealing with two very successful coaches.
On the one side you have Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus, painted as a villain by both the Kiwi and European press, a man who is described in visceral, unflattering language and who is seen as a threat to the sport as a whole, despite the success he has achieved in rugby.
On the other you have All Blacks coach Dave Rennie, painted as a man trying to save rugby for a nation, treated in flattering terms, all the while setting narratives and crafting storylines that have blown up the series.
The contrast in the treatment of the two coaches is fascinating, especially as it defies the rivalry and the exceptional rugby that has been on display.
While the rest of the world has been enthralled by two test matches that have been breathtaking to watch, they have been overshadowed by sideshows where Rennie has been lauded for his approach, while every opportunity to have a crack at Erasmus isn’t missed by the international media.
Last week his decision to change up the front row before kick-off in Cape Town was seen as a travesty, a threat to the sanctity of the game, and the pearl-clutching began.
Despite the clamour, the podcasts and the debates about just how wrong Erasmus was, nobody accepted his explanation outside South Africa.
And more importantly, nobody asked if he had made the change according to World Rugby’s laws when he had to give in a team list 48 hours before the game.
FRONT-ROW CHANGE HYSTERIA
The embroidery on Ox Nche’s number 17 shirt is not something that could be done an hour before a game, and that in itself says the decision was taken long before the team arrived at the stadium.
We had heard rumours on the Wednesday of the change, but could not confirm them. Instead of verifying what the facts were, there was a clamour for headlines and unflattering descriptions.
In fact, on Friday at the team photo Nche arrived wearing the 17 jersey, proving the decision was taken way before the game.
The Times of London match report read: “Springboks level series after flagrant breach of spirit of game by Erasmus.”
And that was just one aspect of a years-long media narrative that has always painted Erasmus as the villain, despite his success and what he means for South Africa.
The problem is exactly that. When Erasmus pushes at the edges of the game, it's an assault on everything rugby stands for. When anyone else does it, they are just fighting for their team.
There is no doubt the international narrative surrounding Rassie has moved beyond normal sports journalism and ventured into character assassination, and it exposes just how deeply rooted this double standard currently is in the global game
Just this week the New Zealand Herald compared Erasmus to Lex Luthor - the cartoon villain from Superman.
The same newspaper. who had previously published cartoons showing then Wallabies coach Michael Cheika and then British and Irish Lions coach Warren Gatland as clowns on their front page. laid into Erasmus, giving him the blame for all that was unholy in rugby at the moment.
While the newspaper had dismissed the cartoons as “fun”, what has been written about Erasmus points to something much darker.
LEX LUTHOR
"Erasmus has become all-powerful in the global game, a genuine Lex Luthor figure whose… cunning genius has been to simultaneously unite swaths of the South African population… while alienating himself from the global community."
"He was playing Lex Luthor as a kind of pantomime villain, but now he's taken him up to the executive suite of LexCorp and turned him into a darker, more conniving, proper baddie.”
The article also called on World Rugby to step in and discipline Erasmus “before he gets too big for the game” and said at “very least they should sanction him for swearing in a press conference.”
If the Herald was alone in their assessment it would be okay, but this isn’t the first time they have taken on Erasmus.
The same writer into 2025 said Erasmus is "slowly following the path of King Lear into madness because due homage has not been paid to his record" and that he "flirts with being a Rasputin-like figure," having used a traffic-light signalling system at the last World Cup to communicate with players.
And he is not alone. 1News in New Zealand called Erasmus "rugby's master manipulator”
We have Scotty Stevenson, television and radio personality, well-known to South Africans, who said before the first test that Erasmus’s moves were “next level Mafia Don stuff.”
Stevenson also said Rassie is "treated as God in South Africa". He also said Rassie is "like a small town American gangster" at a World Rugby meeting, and said "Rassie's running the game now."
Lex Luthor. Mafia Don. Villain. A man the sport needs protecting from.
PUPPET MASTER
There are others. An AFP piece was literally headlined "the puppet master who divides opinion.”
Now we don’t expect everyone to fawn over Erasmus and love him. He is successful and success breeds contempt from others.
Jealousy and the fact the Boks have been at the top of the world for the last two World Cups will make a lot of enemies.
The attacks have been personal. When he picked up weight due to a medical issue, Stevenson and former All Black Izzy Dagg had a full go, calling him “Jabba the Hutt” - an outburst that they were widely criticised for, even from listeners of their show.
But it only underlines the way he is seen by others.
Erasmus has been tainted by his 2021 video that caused so much outrage, which he claims was leaked but which cost him a two-month ban plus a matchday exile that ran the best part of a year.
He served his time, apologised and moved on. The rest of the world has not.
Earlier in the tour, after weeks of Rennie accusing SA teams of slowing down the ball, and playing from set-piece to set-piece, Erasmus answered by turning up at his first press conference with rules adviser and former test referee Jaco Peyper.
The reaction? Coverage in the UK and New Zealand that dragged it all back to the toxicity of the 2021 Lions series. Not a word about Rennie. All the vitriol aimed at one person.
But let’s contrast it with the way that Dave Rennie has been treated. Not a word of criticism falls his way - neither when he was Wallabies coach nor when now as All Blacks coach - about his conduct.
Take for example his outburst against referees after the match against Wales in 2021, just months after Erasmus’s video.
RENNIE OUTBURST
The Wallabies lose to Wales and Rennie goes after the referee Mike Adamson and TMO Marius Jonker by name, calling the officiating “horrendous”.
World Rugby gives him a warning. The New Zealand media, describing that exact moment, called him the “gentlemanly Rennie” and the “normally considered Kiwi.”
A year on he said a French referee had "no feel for the game." Back in 2021 he accused France of milking, and said his players were getting treated like they'd been shot by a sniper every time there was contact.
This is a coach who's gone after officials and opponents in public for years.
This tour is no different. Erasmus questions a referee and he's dragging the game into the gutter.
Rennie calls officiating "horrendous" to a room full of cameras and he's a gentleman having a bad night.
And that isn’t the problem either. We expect a coach to front up for his players and try to get an advantage.
But it's just an acknowledgement that some coaches get treated a lot better than others.
Rennie’s lobbying this series, the complaint about the Bok scrum, all of it gets filed under clever coaching.
Rassie does the same kind of thing and he's a mafia don who needs stopping.
The video was one moment. The caricature has followed Rassie everywhere since.
The 7-1 bench, the mind games, the traffic-light signals. When Erasmus comes up with something, it's cynical, sometimes it's cheating, it’s against the spirit of the game.
The same idea from anyone else is called innovation.
THE REAL REASON FOR THE CHARACTER ASSASSINATION
The real answer is that the treatment of Erasmus may have a lot to do with that video of 2021, but it has more to do with the fact he keeps on winning.
He keeps on doing it his way and he keeps on coming up with innovative ways of getting his team over the line.
The part the international media can’t forgive is that Erasmus won’t kowtow to their standards of what a modern coach must be and how they want him to behave.
So let them call him names. Lex Luthor, the mafia don, Jabba the Hutt. Let them paint him as the villain rugby needs saving from.
The reality is Erasmus took a team on their knees in 2018 and made them double World Champions.
He has taken the Springboks to two World Cup wins and no matter how many headlines they will pile on, it doesn’t change that record one bit.
It doesn’t change the man. And that’s the part they can’t stand.