[imagesource: Flickr / Senedd Cymru]

The 2021 British & Irish Lions tour of South Africa will be remembered both for the off-field drama and the remarkable physicality of the battles on the pitch.

Once Rassie Erasmus’ video criticising the performance of Nic Berry, the referee in the first test match, was made public, we knew the tour would never be the same.

A stunning comeback double act secured a 2-1 series win, causing bitter scribes around the world to pen lazy attacks on Rassie and the Springboks, but as per usual our Director of Rugby (and waterboy par excellence) had the last laugh.

Sadly, now it’s the rest of the rugby world that is doing the laughing after the Springboks lost their opening two matches of the European tour, as well as our ‘A’ side losing to Munster.

Rather than looking inward, Rassie has taken to sarcastically posting on Twitter and whinging about refereeing calls that didn’t go our way. He’s been called a “figure of ridicule and embarrassment” and even South Africans are sticking the boot in.

Guys, we can both love the guy and realise that his antics are now becoming really, really tiresome.

The latest figure to stick the knife in is a familiar old foe, Warren Gatland (pictured above), who coached the Lions on their recent tour to our shores.

Writing for The Telegraph, Gatland said his behaviour is “indefensible”:

We could all go through games with a fine-tooth comb and pick out decisions that went against us or you might not be happy with. That happens in every game, because you have guys in the middle and assistants making calls on the run. We have the benefits of lots of different angles on video replays.

After every game you pick out things and send in clips where you want clarification and that’s the process you go through. Referees, the good ones, will come back and put their hands up on calls they’ve got wrong and you accept that, because it’s human nature. We’re going to make mistakes, they can’t see everything, things are happening so quickly and you understand people aren’t going to see every situation.

Gatland points to the fact that there isn’t a single director of rugby or head coach anywhere else in the world moaning in public like Rassie does, despite the fact that they often feel aggrieved about calls going against them.

The standard of officiating may be poor, and many of the laws of the game are far too open for interpretation by referees, but there are processes and channels in place to offer feedback.

When you send in the clips and have feedback, or the referees put it in their own report, they’ll come back and say they got a call wrong or made a mistake and you accept that, it’s part of human nature. You don’t expect everyone to get everything right.

You would like to think that someone will pull Erasmus aside, whether it’s someone from the South African Rugby Union or their CEO or there’s a phone call, to tell Rassie: ‘I don’t think you’re doing yourself any favours, or World Rugby any favours by putting these things out on social media’. Let the public do that and go through the right processes.

It’s worth pointing out that Gatland wasn’t immune to putting some pressure on officials himself during the Lions tour, publicly questioning the appointment of Marius Jonker as Television Match Official (TMO) ahead of the first test match.

Given that the series was played in the midst of COVID-19 lockdowns around the world, Gatland got that one wrong.

Over the course of a match, referees make an estimated 400 calls.

That means that if they get 10 calls wrong, they’re still getting more than 97% correct. When asked about his tweets this week by The Daily Maverick’s Craig Ray, Rassie tried to play dumb:

“It’s not about having a go at the referees. If I was having a go at the referee, well, I don’t think Wayne Barnes would make all those bad decisions. He’s No 1 in the world and has 100 Tests under the belt.

“It’s obviously something on our side we need to fix. I just want supporters to understand that. If people put a narrative to that, I can’t control it.

“They’re (the tweets) are being done for South African supporters to understand that there’s some things that some guys on the opposition side are really doing well, which we don’t understand.”

Rassie, we love you but even we’re not buying this kak.

Beating the Italians on Saturday is non-negotiable if we want to salvage anything from our European tour.

Our reputation as the sorest of losers may well be beyond repair.

[sources:tele&dailymav]