Rassie Erasmus launches into hour-long rant at wrong calls in South Africa’s loss to the Lions

The Lions’ opponents were in trouble and disarray on Thursday night as South Africa were ordered to explain an astonishing, hour-long video rant by their director of rugby Rassie Erasmus.

World Rugby, the game’s governing body, are poised to launch an investigation into the explosive comments which have heaped pressure on the Test series officials, amid concerns about damage to the reputation of the sport.

Erasmus followed up his previous claims and accusations on social media by repeatedly arguing that the world champion Springboks were shown a lack of respect in the first Test by referee Nic Berry and his assistants.

A visibly exasperated Erasmus offered to ‘withdraw’ from the hosts’ management team for the remainder of the series, which the Lions lead 1-0.

But it is understood he is likely to continue in his role — including his contentious duties as a pitch-side water-carrier — pending possible action in due course.

While many people who watched the video, featuring detailed analysis of 30 separate incidents from last Saturday’s encounter, felt that Erasmus had the look of a man struggling under pressure, the Lions will be on their guard.

Those who know Erasmus will say that he is calculating and always has a plan. One source told Sportsmail: ‘He is one step ahead of everyone. He never unravels.’

Erasmus unleashed a wild tirade about a perceived imbalance in the treatment of the teams and also the rival captains — Siya Kolisi and Alun Wyn Jones.

‘It’s comical, the way the respect of the assistant referees and the refs is different between the Lions and South Africa,’ said Erasmus.

‘When Siya spoke to the referee and when Alun Wyn spoke to the referee, I felt there was a vast difference between who he was taking serious and who he wasn’t taking serious.’

Later, referring to Berry — the Australian who took charge of the first Test — he added: ‘It’s almost as if he’s having a laugh at Siya.’ 

Explaining why he was airing his grievances so publicly, Erasmus cited the way the Lions raised concerns about the late appointment of a South African TMO, Marius Jonker.

‘The way the pressure was put on Marius Jonker by Warren Gatland was uncalled for,’ he said. ‘We feel we got no joy from anything because we were quiet last week and they were all over the media.’ 

This latest outburst will intensify tensions between the camps ahead of Saturday’s seismic second Test, especially as Erasmus lashed out at the tourists, saying: ‘The narrative the Lions are trying to put out is that we don’t know and don’t respect the laws.’

Privately, the South Africans feel that Gatland had already undermined the officials and no action was taken, so it would be wrong to punish Erasmus. 

The Lions believe their head coach would be facing tough sanctions if he had spoken out in the same way as Erasmus.

Alun Wyn Jones denied the Bok supremo’s claims about officials favouring his side, saying: ‘It didn’t feel as if we had any advantage because a lot of the time I was standing next to Siya when we were speaking to the refs. The penalty count was against us in the first half, so we had more than our fair share of penalties against us.’ 

World Rugby released a statement on Thursday night which said: ‘World Rugby notes the comments made by Rassie Erasmus. The nature of these will be raised with the union via the usual official channels.’

Saturday’s match will be refereed by New Zealander Ben O’Keeffe, with Berry and Frenchman Mathieu Raynal as his assistants. Jonker will be the TMO again.