Rassie Erasmus and Nick Mallett during friendlier times. Photo: Gallo Images.
Rassie Erasmus first texted Nick Mallett – report
Nick Mallett has refused to react to the comments directed at him by Rassie Erasmus, who reportedly first sought to send him a text message.
Rassie Erasmus and Nick Mallett during friendlier times. Photo: Gallo Images.
*Note: this article has been updated with the latest development in the Rassie Erasmus-Nick Mallett story
In a story that has taken South African rugby by storm, Erasmus has said he couldn’t sleep after hearing critical comments from Mallett on a punditry talk show.
After an extended absence from social media, Rassie took to Twitter in the early hours of Saturday morning to blast Mallett for comments made in the latest episode of SuperSport’s panel show, Final Whistle.
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Erasmus’ comment that he was battling to sleep appears to have been vindicated, with Sunday newspaper Rapport revealing that Mallett had in fact woken up on Saturday morning to see that the director of rugby had sent him a WhatsApp at 3:32am. However, the message was deleted before it was seen by Mallett.
The former Springboks coach confirmed to Rapport that he had received a deleted message from Erasmus, but refused to comment any further on the story.
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Here is what Rassie said in his social media note note:
“I struggled to sleep because I was really upset about your comments last week on the Final Whistle. It is actually just some things you said without any substance behind it,” Erasmus said.
“So Nick, I’m just gonna tell you straight, you don’t know that a rugby director is and what his job is. Obviously, I’m not appointing coaches, I have no authority in appointing coaches.
“The second thing is, I do have a programme running called “The fast tracking of elite black players”, for those who hasn’t had the opportunity in Super Rugby and the United Rugby Championship (URC). We’ve got a sponsor for them and we are proud of that program.
“The thing you guys talk about for 20 minutes of players running sideways, we have EPD systems from U15 where players learn it [running lines]. Some learn it great, some not so great. But I would urge you to go and sit with all the EPD managers, who are running those programmes without any budget,” Rassie added in his rant to Mallett.
“Then when you start saying things like I must get the referees right and I must stop tweeting about the Springboks. Firstly, the Springboks are the most important thing and that is my first priority and I will do anything to make sure the Springboks win. So please don’t [try to] stop me there.
“You say I must bring referees through [the development ranks]. We are bringing referees through the ranks, but it has to be accepted by World Rugby. If you can help in any way there, it would be really, really great of you.
“Nick, I’m not gonna fight with you in any way, I’m just saying between what’s happening on the ground and what you guys are showing and saying on SuperSport, somethere in-between there’s the truth. I would suggest you hang close to that truth because currently you are far away from that truth and you’re missing the ball by quite a distance.
“You know me well. I love you and I thought you were a guy with big inbors [quality]. But unfortunately my man, I will have to rectify you and send you some stats to get this [the truth] out there because you can’t talk this shit to the people.”
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Erasmus was responding after Mallett appeared on the SuperSport show along with Swys de Bruin, Hanyani Shimange and host Owen Nkumane, and they discussed a range of subjects to do with South African rugby. However, it was the comments Mallett made when specifically looking at the job of Erasmus that seem to have been taken personally by the director of rugby.
When asked by Nkumane about the state of coaching in South Africa, Mallett seemed to suggest that Erasmus was not doing his job well enough.
“That’s part of the director of rugby’s job. That’s Rassie’s job. His job is to bring coaches through and bring referees through. It’s a very big job that he has got,” said Mallett. “He shouldn’t be on social media talking about the Springboks. He should be doing his job properly.”
