Despite only just returning from his match-day ban, after his video criticising refereeing decisions during the 2021 Lions Tour, it did not stop South Africa's Director of Rugby Rassie Erasmus from taking to Twitter to drop another video, questioning some of the refereeing decisions during South Africa's 19-16 loss to Ireland yesterday.
He clearly did not want to explicitly call out referee Nika Amashukeli, but one can read between the lines of the caption he used: "Tough test match, thanks for all the support from , also thanks to the Ireland supporters at the Aviva, you definetly understand the game and its great to play in an atmosphere like yesterday ! Surely was a game of big battles, but small margins."
The incident which was missed by the referee, was the boot of Dan Sheehan kicking the ball from a South African ruck, which lead to Mack Hansen's decisive score. South Africa were then penalised for the same action towards the end of the match.
It was a big infringement that was missed. However, Erasmus conveniently ignores the clear neck roll by Siya Kolisi in the video, and there was no mention of Cheslin Kolbe, who was extremely fortunate not to have been sent off in the first-half.
Rassie Erasmus Could Not Help Himself
Tough test match, thanks for all the support from 🇿🇦, also thanks to the Ireland supporters at the Aviva, you definetly understand the game and its great to play in an atmosphere like yesterday ! Surely was a game of big battles,but small margins 👇🏿 pic.twitter.com/Jcjci2Jlvo
— Rassie Erasmus (@RassieRugby) November 6, 2022
READ HERE: Ireland Player Ratings As Ireland Throttle World Champs At The Aviva
Ireland head coach Andy Farrell spoke after the match and lavished praise on the Springboks, and the returning Hugo Keenan and Jamison Gibson Park.
“You would think that Hugo and Jamison had been playing for the last five or six weeks and that’s because of the culture, the attitude, the want to get better time and again that is infection day-in and day-out with this squad. I thought we showed fantastic spirit.
“Having said that, South Africa are a hell of a side and it could have gone either way so the character that we showed was fitting for the 12 days that we have had together. The injuries we had, one or two before the match, and the Ireland ‘A’ game made for a different ten days for us and something we adapted to. I’m unbelievably proud of them in how they applied themselves."
SEE ALSO: South African Media Question Selections And Refereeing Decisions After Loss
