Rassie video gets 'nine for accuracy, zero for respect'
SPOTLIGHT: England head coach Eddie Jones has two very different ratings for Rassie Erasmus’ infamous 62-minute video.
Jones told Alex Payne and Mike Tindall on The Good, The Bad & The Rugby podcast that he viewed the video and during the podcast discussion he offered advice on how to deal with the strained relationships between referees and coaches.
Last month South Africa’s Director of Rugby was found guilty of misconduct by an independent committee for his hour-long video critique of match officials, particularly Australian referee Nic Berry, after the first Test in the British & Irish Lions series, which the Boks lost.
Erasmus was banned from all rugby activity for two months and was also suspended from “all match-day activities” until September 30 next year after being found guilty of six counts of misconduct.
“For accuracy, it is probably nine out of 10, but for respect probably zero out of 10,” said Jones when asked about his opinion on the video.
Jones admitted there is a problem with officiating in the game and coaches lashing out is evidence of this.
“We’ve seen Rassie do it, we’ve seen [Wallabies head coach] Dave Rennie explode,” the England coach added.
“We got a problem with the referee and every coach feels like that at some stage.
“We had that game against Wales in the Six Nations where there were two tries that weren’t tries, but we can’t afford to act like that because it is just going to make it worse.
“What I think we need to do is simplify how we use technology, give the referee respect and be really hard on coaches who criticise the referee.
Jones has also been in trouble in the past for criticising referees.
He said he felt “like doing a Rassie” plenty of times.
“I got into trouble when I was young, in 2007, I think. I sprayed this referee after a Reds game and I got fined AUS$10 000 and I had to pay it myself and I had to pay AUS$5000 in legal fees.
“At the end of the day, it’s not good for the game. You set a bad precedent for your team because you are saying you can carry on like that.”
Jones believes the game needs to go back to some old ways to rectify some of the issues.
“One of the things is to have better relationships.
“We used to have a lot of get-togethers, coaches and referees, and I think those sort of social events help because you just get a better understanding of each other,” said Jones.
Source: The Good, The Bad & The Rugby podcast
