Cloak and dagger of World Rugby

In a surprising turn of events, SA Rugby and its director of rugby, Rassie Erasmus, withdrew their appeal against the sanctions handed down against them by World Rugby last week.

Erasmus was banned from all rugby activities for two months and from match-day activities until the end of September 2022, while SA Rugby had received a £20 000 (about R418 000) fine on Wednesday last week.

Erasmus was found guilty of six misconduct charges in relation to his 62-minute video criticising the performance of referee Nic Berry and his assistants during the first British & Irish Lions Test in July.

It is likely that both Erasmus and SA Rugby were advised by their legal representatives that their appeal would be unsuccessful, while it could also be possible that a heavier sentence could have been handed down to both if the appeal was unsuccessful.

ALSO READ: SA Rugby, Rassie Erasmus withdraw appeal, apologise to officials

The impartiality of World Rugby in dealing with the appeal should, however, be questioned as the “independent” board who handed down the sentence all had ties to World Rugby and the proceedings themselves were not open to the public, despite being requested by Erasmus and SA Rugby.

It was extremely unlikely that an appeals board would be swayed in any way to backtrack on the current sanctions handed out.

With the increasingly regular poor standard of officiating being exposed on a weekly basis around the world, this is a very worrying situation, as World Rugby has emphatically missed an opportunity to open up an important conversation on the current confusion over rugby laws and standard of refereeing in general