South Africa coach Rassie Erasmus is accused of using a FAKE ACCOUNT on Twitter to hit out at the Lions – with fans suspicious after he retweeted the mystery user’s ONLY two posts whining about refereeing in first Test
- Fans have joked that Rassie Erasmus could behind a fake Twitter account
- Springboks coach responded to an anonymous user after defeat to the Lions
- The account said there were ‘questionable calls’ in South Africa’s 22-17 loss
- The user has only made two posts but Erasmus responded to both of them
Rassie Erasmus intensified his social media campaign against the Lions amid shock at his apparent use of a Twitter alter-ego to highlight perceived officiating inconsistencies.
The man who guided the Springboks to World Cup glory in 2019 has adopted unorthodox tactics as the rival camps have traded tit-for-tat accusations in the last fortnight.
Despite being South Africa’s esteemed director of rugby, Erasmus has enjoyed antagonising the Lions by acting as a water carrier to provide onfield coaching tips — but it is his online activity that has really caused a stir.
Rugby fans have joked that South Africa rugby chief Rassie Erasmus could be behind an anonymous account criticising the Lions
Ersamus responded to an anonymous account who had outlined ‘questionable calls’
He retweeted a video the user uploaded which highlighted incidents that didn’t go their way
Remarkably, it is widely assumed that he is behind a Twitter account under the name of Jaco Johan, with a biography which states: ‘I am Rassie’s voice when he is too nervous to say something himself! Watch the space — some good stuff on its way.’ On that account, there is no sense of nervousness about addressing contentious issues.
In the aftermath of the South Africa A win over the Lions when the tourists raised concerns about a dangerous tackle by Faf de Klerk, Jaco Johan responded with detailed clips of high shots by Owen Farrell in the same game.
That was retweeted by Erasmus from his own named account, then he commented late on Sunday night after ‘Jaco Johan’ used footage to support claims of refereeing decisions unfairly going against the Boks during their defeat in the first Test.
On Monday, Erasmus upped the ante further when he released a clip of an airborne Cheslin Kolbe colliding with Ali Price last Saturday and landing hard on his back, only to be swiftly pulled back up by Mako Vunipola.
Erasmus slammed the Lions for their ‘dangerous and reckless’ play in the Cape Town clash
Erasmus wrote: ‘Cheslin is obviously played in the air and clearly not direct into touch! More importantly for youngsters watching this clip, please never move or touch an injured player on the ground, it’s reckless and dangerous.’
The post was written so that the issue was brought to the attention of World Rugby, the governing body, and the Lions, as well as the Springboks. Erasmus’s use of social media prompted a bemused response in the Lions camp.
Luke Cowan-Dickie grinned as he said: ‘I haven’t really seen any of it, but I am pretty sure there are other channels to go down. I think they have a referees’ meeting, don’t they? So I am pretty sure the best people to talk to are the officials, but it is up to him what he fancies doing. ’
Erasmus had initially been graceful in defeat and hailed Warren Gatland’s side for their display
Defence coach Steve Tandy added: ‘People are saying Rassie is coming out and saying bits and pieces around the performances at the weekend but every team has got those moments and can go through micro-details and analyse it. We do it ourselves but it is about going through the appropriate channels, raising the ones that are relevant and not making it about every small detail.’
Vunipola was somewhat taken aback to be so publicly accused of being ‘reckless and dangerous’. The England prop said: ‘Maybe this is the first time a coach has said something like that on social media. He (Kolbe) seemed to be all right. He played on — so it wasn’t that reckless, was it?
‘I guess if he was really hurt then it was a bit reckless but I felt the collision wasn’t that bad. We were behind at the time and wanted to get some tempo so I wanted to get the ball off him. If I hurt him, I apologise — but in the heat of the moment you just react naturally.’
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