EDITORIAL | Rassie was rash, but World Rugby is being downright childish

World Rugby’s imposition of stiff sanctions on SA Rugby director Rassie Erasmus has sparked furious debate. For Springbok supporters it is an emotive issue and comes in the same week that not one Springbok (or All Black) player made the cut for World Rugby’s annual awards. The timing of the announcement to ban Erasmus ahead of a crunch game against England has upped the controversy.

When the emotions are set aside, however, it becomes clear none of the sides in this sorry saga have covered themselves in glory.

At quick glance, the punishment does seem to be out of sync with the seriousness of the infringement. In short, Erasmus was found guilty of misconduct for releasing a 62-minute video criticising no fewer than 36 refereeing decisions in the first match between the Springboks and the British and Irish Lions, which the Springboks lost 17-22. World Rugby took umbrage with the fact that Erasmus chose to do this in public instead of raising his concerns through established channels of communication. This is frowned upon in rugby's corridors of power. It also found Erasmus “threatened” the referee, Nic Berry, who, according to the World Rugby committee presiding over his misconduct hearing, was the victim of an “ad hominem attack, which lacked detached analysis or balance”. Erasmus’s sanction? A two-month ban from all rugby activities and a suspension from all match-day activities until the end of September 2022. SA Rugby was fined £20,000 (about R420,000). 

What is hard to understand though is World Rugby’s handling of the situation. This is a body that seems to switch, by default, to defensive mode the moment it gets challenged.

Perhaps Erasmus, who, alongside SA Rugby, is appealing the decision, is looking back today and quietly thinking he could have handled the whole thing differently. Perhaps, in hindsight, it was one of those moments that should have just been an email written in anger, but saved in a draft folder and eventually never sent because the composer realises it would be received in bad faith. There may have been other ways to get the message across.

At the time, there was a lot at stake. The national team needed to know their director had their back in the middle of a crucial Test series, including skipper Siya Kolisi, who was repeatedly ignored by the referee.  Erasmus recorded the video and not only sent it to the officials involved, but to the entire WhatsApp group of Springbok players and management, without any request to keep it confidential. World Rugby said he must have known it would come out, and it is hard to argue with that.

What is hard to understand though is World Rugby’s handling of the situation. This is a body that seems to switch, by default, to defensive mode the moment it gets challenged. It took its time to charge Erasmus and then when the misconduct hearing eventually happened, it was behind closed doors. This despite a request it be open to the public, a perfectly reasonable ask. Yet it chose to huddle in secrecy and then took weeks to announce a decision. It’s not a good look, and add to that its annual awards ceremony snubbing the best teams in the world, it just appears petty and childish.

So while Erasmus could have raised his concerns in a more mature way, the same criticism can be directed at World Rugby. This is not an organisation ready to turn feedback on shortcomings into constructive criticism. Rugby is governed by many laws, many of which are open to interpretation. Match officials will make mistakes but the sport has to find a mechanism that is open, transparent and safeguards the integrity of the sport when it deals with post match analysis. Now everybody, including the game of rugby, has lost.