World Rugby, the powers that be of rugby union, could have been forgiven for thinking that the two-month ban they handed out to Rassie Erasmus would earn them a bit of respite from the combative South African but sadly, they were very much mistaken. Indeed, despite trying to silence the 49-year-old, they have instead stirred the hornet’s nest and are now being repeatedly stung.
As far as his current punishment from World Rugby goes, Erasmus will be able to return to his duties as director of South African rugby in the new year but will only be allowed to be a part of the match-day squad again in October 2022. Crucially, this will mean that Erasmus is kept out of any match-day activities during preparation for the 2023 World Cup in which the Springboks are currently priced at 5/1 odds to win according to the latest rugby betting. Perhaps this is the reason that Erasmus is sticking his elbows out to the degree that he is, instead of using this period over the festive season to take some time out and recharge.
𝐁𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐊𝐈𝐍𝐆: Rassie Erasmus has been found guilty of misconduct towards match officials.
— SuperSport 🏆 (@SuperSportTV) November 17, 2021
📝 He has been served with a two-month ban and suspended from all rugby activities until 30 September 2022. pic.twitter.com/aeBY5pfCNl
It really has been a sustained attack on the powers that be and in reality, one would have thought that Erasmus would risk another ban by stoking the fire. There is, after all, nothing thinly veiled about his jibes at World Rugby and instead, Erasmus is using his Twitter account to take full Tyson Fury-Esque punches at the governing body of international rugby. Indeed, it was in early December when South Africa’s director of rugby tweeted about how much he missed Agustín Pichot, who used to sit on the World Rugby Council before standing down after losing the election for chairman in 2020. Revealingly, Erasmus’ reasons for longing for Pichot to come back was down to the fact that the Argentine ‘never thought he owned rugby and always tried to give back.’
As mentioned, Erasmus is not treading lightly and is rather landing vicious haymakers on World Rugby and, in particular, current chairman Bill Beaumont. It should be stressed that Erasmus is showing extraordinary stamina in his bid to keep riling up the game’s lawmakers but perhaps that is to be expected given that the 49-year-old was once an international player. Basically, Erasmus may still feel that he has a score to settle with the powers that be, and the fact the head of the organisation of rugby union is English shouldn’t go unnoticed.
Indeed, Erasmus’ constant taunting of World Rugby is surely fuelled by his desire to beat England and not have them win any contest that he is part of. Erasmus was able to do this in 2019 as he coached South Africa to World Cup glory in Yokohama but even through that campaign the 49-year-old felt undermined by the English and especially the tabloid media.
This is probably why Erasmus also used his Twitter account in early December to post a video of him riling up his bulldog who seemed to take exception to his owner calling him an ‘English Bulldog’, only to stop barking and trying to bite him when Erasmus eventually assured him that he was indeed South African after all.
Frank just won’t accept his an English Bulldog pic.twitter.com/IXqhtneQdH
— Rassie Erasmus (@RassieRugby) December 5, 2021
Justified, unhinged, humorous, paranoid, or genius? It’s up to you to decide and perhaps it’s a mixture of all five but whatever the case may be, World Rugby have not been able to silence Erasmus and the South African will continue to remain an ever-growing thorn in their side.
