Former Springbok captain Victor Matfield says that SA Rugby needs to take a firm stance in the matter involving Rassie Erasmus over his two-match ban handed out by World Rugby last week.
Erasmus, SA Rugby’s director of rugby, received a two-match ban last week after highlighting questionable refereeing in the Springboks’ losses against Ireland and France.
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The 2019 World Cup-winning Springbok coach had come off a year matchday ban earlier in October but took to Twitter to question the refereeing and officiating inconsistencies in Dublin and Marseille.
Matfield believes that SA Rugby should decide to support Erasmus or punish the director of rugby for his actions and says that the two-match ban is not the best look for South African rugby.
“We’re in a position where he is our director of rugby and he is the face of SA Rugby. He has been tapped on the fingers twice from the IRB and SA Rugby is saying nothing,” Matfield told News24 at the Gary and Vivienne Player Invitational in Sun City.
“Either SA Rugby must stand with him and say that they’ll back him 100 percent or someone from SA Rugby needs to talk to [him] and make him stop what he is doing.
“SA Rugby has to decide what they need to do, but it’s not looking good in the world for SA Rugby and it doesn’t help with the referees, we’ll probably get worse decisions every week.”
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With recent negative headlines and publicity involving the Springboks camp including Elton Jantjies’ alleged infidelity, Matfield insists that SA Rugby should not lose focus and that on-field performances and results are still the most important.
“My thoughts are that it should always be about rugby. Yes, we want to see our Springbok players in the masses, but they need to perform. As long as they perform on the field, we can’t say anything and I think that’s something we need to focus on,” said Matfield.
“Normally, you need a good culture off the field to help mirror it on the field. But that’s something they need to prioritise and focus on.”
Photo: @Springboks/Twitter
