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Swys reckons the outcome justified Rassie’s actions

rugby03 August 2021 08:47| © SuperSport
By:Gavin Rich
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Rassie Erasmus may be in hot water with World Rugby and facing the condemnation of the foreign media for the leaked video that caused such a stir before the second test of the British and Irish Lions series, but he has the support of his former assistant coach Swys de Bruin.


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The former Golden Lions coach said on the Supersport program Masterplan after the second test, which was won 27-9 by the Springboks, that the frustration that would have driven Erasmus to produce his video was something every coach would feel at some point.

“All coaches at some point of their careers feel it building up and you see these things happening and yet you feel like you have no forum to address it and at that point you lose it a bit. So from that point of view I thought it was brilliant,” said De Bruin.

“I was just hoping for his sake that we win. Now that we (the Boks) won it makes sense. You have to look at it from the viewpoint of what was the outcome. How was the officiating in the second test.”

De Bruin was on a panel together with in-studio guests former Bok coach Peter de Villiers and former Southern Kings coach and Bok prop Robbi Kempson, with Jonathan Mokuena, former Blitzbok player and Leopards coach, participating via Zoom from home. There seemed to be universal agreement between the four of them that the officiating was much better in the second test, and that therefore the Erasmus video had achieved the desired outcome.

Kiwi referee Ben O’Keefe was praised for the way he took a firm hand on proceedings with the way he addressed the two captains near the start of the game, with no disrespect this time shown to Bok captain Siya Kolisi.

There was some disagreement between Kempson and De Bruin over the yellow card shown to Bok wing Cheslin Kolbe after his collision with an airborne Conor Murray. Kempson felt that within the law parameters set down, it should have been red. But De Bruin argued otherwise.

“I still have nightmares about what happened with Kwagga Smith (who was red carded for a similar offence in the 2017 Super Rugby final) and I know so does Johan Ackermann (Lions head coach at the time),” said de Bruin.

“In that instance Kwagga took his eyes off the ball. But I don’t think that (the Kolbe incident) is red, the eyes gave it away. As a referee you start with red, and then you look to see if there are mitigating circumstances. You ask where were his eyes. His eyes were on the ball the whole time.”

Of course there are many instances where the law is an ass, and this is an instance where maybe that is the case, for Kempson’s argument is also easily understood - the law doesn’t really give a player an out.

As there are too many red cards that ruin rugby for that kind of incident, perhaps that law needs to be looked at, which is something De Villiers appeared to suggest with his follow up question.

“Don’t coaches and players have enough to worry about themselves without also having to worry about and taking responsibility for the safety of the opposition?”

There was one thing Kempson said that no-one would quibble with: “The officiating in this test was really good but then that is surely what we should always be anticipating from the referees.”

If that was the case, this whole controversy around the Erasmus video would not have happened.

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