The aftershocks of the Springboks’ thrilling Rugby Championship win over the All Blacks continue to rumble on with both nations in whinge mode over separate incidents from the clash – as well as an incident of apparent fat shaming aimed at Rassie Erasmus.
As the team’s gear up for a second match in Cape Town this weekend – where victory could secure South Africa’s first TRC title since 2019 – the bitterest rivalry in world rugby is in overdrive.
The Boks have shifted their usual team naming day from Tuesday to Thursday as they monitor the health of captain Siya Kolisi who was left with a badly bruised face from a contact with Sam Cane.
Cane avoided a card for the incident and the Boks have been evasive on the extent of Kolisi’s injury.
“It looks like a fracture. I’m not a medical doctor, but I think it’s a fracture,” coach Rassie Erasmus said after the match.
“The doc will have to look at Siya … he doesn’t normally look like this!”
Springboks scrum coach Daan Human avoided an update on the inspirational skipper on Tuesday, only saying the skipper will be given time to prove his fitness.
(Photo by Andrew Kearns – CameraSport via Getty Images)
“So far, they are still busy assessing the possibility of him being available to for us in the week,” Human told reporters.
“We will see how he goes through this week. He’s important for us, but if he’s not [available], then next man in.”
The Boks were said to be privately seething that referee Andrew Brace – who also angered the All Blacks with a controversial decision for the hosts’ opening try – only awarded a penalty against Cane – who was red carded for a high shot in the World Cup final.
“It was a proper knock,” Human said on Tuesday.
“I can’t go into what the refs and the TMO saw. We’ve just seen what we’ve seen. Hopefully Siya can recover soon and be fit to play the game.
“It’s up to them what they decide, if it was a red card or a yellow card. I don’t think we will ever go into the ref’s decisions or World Rugby’s decisions on that. It’s in the past and we are looking forward to Saturday.”
That last statement seemed to be dripping with irony, considering reports that the SARU has been bleating to World Rugby about Australia’s injuries in their TRC clash in Perth – suggesting foul play from Joe Schmidt and his coaching team.
While South Africans were fuming about the Kolisi injury, All Blacks greats are still blowing up about the Boks opening try to Bongi Mbonambi. With Jordie Barrett seemingly jolting the ball from the Boks forward’s grasp it looked like a knock on, although South African media reports have been adamant that the try was fair.
Former England international Andy Goode was among those viewers surprised by the try award and the decision not to card Cane.
“Was there a TMO in the SA v NZ game? Missed the Bongi Mbonambi knock on when he “scored” and a possible red card for Sam Cane’s head high hit on Siya Kolisi, he must have been in the bogs,” he wrote on social media.
Jeff Wilson called on World Rugby to come out and explain why Brace awarded the try and the TMO did not jump in to rule it out.
“That should not be a try,” Wilson said on The Breakdown. “The biggest thing for me here is we need to hear definitively from World Rugby exactly the process and the way they came to the decision that they made, straight away, because the TMO was in this game a lot.
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“As soon as we saw that replay, we had our doubts, and all of our instincts told us in our mind that, for me, the ball had been lost forward.”
Another ex-All Black great Mils Muliaina added: “I totally agree. In fact, they’ve got to come out and sort of clarify what that was, because the thing that concerned me is the TMO didn’t even look at it. We didn’t hear from the TMO the fact that he didn’t have a look at it.
“They clearly thought it was a try. So there was no going back on it. So they need to explain whether it is or not and why it wasn’t.”
Along with the two big onfield decisions the spice levels were increased off the field as well. The shambolic haka – interrupted by music, fireworks and an aircraft flyover – has already led to an apology from South African Rugby to their NZ counterparts.
But perhaps the weirdest manifestation of an unhealthy rivalry came when former All Black Israel Dagg and his NZ radio co-host Scott ‘Sumo’ Stevenson made wisecracks about Erasmus’ appearance – with Stevenson comparing him to Jabba the Hutt and Baron Vladimir Harkonnen , the grotesquely overweight characters from Star Wars and Dune.
“How much Klippies [Brandy] and coke has he been on?” asked Stevenson, who later made a snarky ‘apology’.
“I think an apology is in order and I think some fans have got the wrong end of the stick here and I wanted to be the first to put my hand up and apologise to those who were offended by the fact that I compared Rassie Erasmus’ behaviour and demeanour to that of Baron Harkonnen from June and Jabba the Hutt, the uber-villain from Star Wars,” Stevenson said.
“So to the fans of and the casting crew and the producers of June and Star Wars, you have my heartfelt apologies for making such an unfair comparison to Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus.”
Erasmus has an autoimmune disease, granulomatosis. The side effects of medication used to treat it include weight gain.
In the face of a social media backlash, Stevenson added: ” “I compared his behaviour to the villainous aspects of Baron Harkonnen and Jabba the Hutt. I didn’t compare his weight to those two characters and that assertion is completely out of line from all of those who believe that Rassie Erasmus is the most untouchable man in rugby.”
Erasmus has opted to be the, err, bigger man.
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