Blitzboks give ‘ridiculous decision’ the Rassie Erasmus treatment on social media
The Blitzboks were clearly not pleased by the decision.
The Blitzboks’ social media team and fans were left annoyed by the decision to suspend Selvyn Davids during the Hong Kong SVNS on Saturday.
The player received a three-game ban for a tackle in the 26-7 victory over Samoa in the Pool C fixture.
Justin Geduld also received a suspension for an incident in the pool stage match but Selvyn Davids’ ban has been met with a backlash after the Blitzboks posted the tackle that triggered it on social media platform X, formerly Twitter.
Selvyn Davids’ suspension
“Davids suspended for three matches for this tackle against Samoa. He will miss the remainder of the tournament,” read the caption of the official Blitzboks account, accompanied by a clip of the tackle.
Davids suspended for three matches for this tackle against Samoa. He will miss the remainder of the tournament. pic.twitter.com/x7BD4phJIs
— Springbok Sevens (@Blitzboks) April 6, 2024
It’s rather uncommon for official accounts to post a clip of an incident resulting in a ban, but the Blitzboks were seemingly unhappy with the decision and took to social media to subtly express that, much like Springboks boss Rassie Erasmus did in 2022.
The South African fans were clearly displeased by the decision.
Respected journalist Brenden Nel reacted: “Its really hard to watch this and not think WTF?”
Fellow journalist Craig Ray added: “I totally get safety and player welfare, but based on this view, rugby is not doing itself favours with this suspension.”
The fans agreed, with one adding: “No man, this must be appealed. This is a ridiculous decision.” Another sarcastically stated: “Eish. Brutal tackling by Davids. Surely, the whole Samoa must be sent for counselling after that.”
South Africa did win all three of their pool stage matches, defeating Ireland 22-17 and Spain 24-10 before claiming the victory over Samoa.
Springboks coaches explain why ‘Ireland have been the best team in the world’
Depleted numbers not an excuse
However, they were defeated 15-0 by Australia in the quarter-finals.
South Africa were down three players for the clash with Australia due to an injury to Ronald Brown and Selvyn Davids and Geduld’s suspensions.
Stand-in captain Zain Davids said playing with a depleted squad was not an excuse.
“We trained hard back home in Stellenbosch and have scenarios like this worked into the sessions,” said Zain Davids.
“We were just not good enough in this match and that is very disappointing. We did not play 100% to our potential, that was our problem, not the numbers.”
He added: “We had a good chat in the huddle now and everyone accepted that we did not play according to our standards and that the match against Fiji gives us a change to rectify that. So we come out stronger tomorrow.”
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