‘It’s a vendetta’ – World Rugby slammed for overlooking Rassie Erasmus as ‘grudge’ blamed on controversial decision
Rassie Erasmus, the Springboks head coach, during the Autumn Nations Series in 2024.
There has been widespread outrage from South Africans after Rassie Erasmus was overlooked for the World Rugby Coach of the Year award.
The Springboks head coach was arguably the favourite to take the honour after guiding his side to their first Rugby Championship title since 2019.
They also won 11 of their 13 matches in 2024 and Erasmus did that while rotating the squad heavily, with 50 players used during the Test campaign.
The winner
However, France sevens coach Jérôme Daret was instead chosen after guiding his nation to the Olympic title in July.
The French also won their first SVNS Series title in 19 years when they triumphed in Los Angeles, but many felt that those achievements paled in comparison the Springboks legend.
“Rassie Erasmus not named Coach of the Year. I guess building a 51-man squad with essentially 3 teams in it, 5 trophies, top rank in the world and consistent innovation wasn’t enough,” Brandon Portnoy wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
It is fair to say that World Rugby and Erasmus have had a fraught relationship after the South Africa head coach was banned twice for criticising match officials.
His hour-long video attacking Nic Berry after the first Test of the 2021 British and Irish Lions series was particularly unsavoury and led to a two-month suspension.
More recently, the Boks boss appears to have taken steps to repair that relationship, hiring former Test referee Jaco Peyper to his backroom team.
Peyper is there to guide the team on the laws of the game and to help keep their on-field discipline in check, but he could also feasibly act as a bridge between South Africa and the match officials.
However, some believe that the governing body have not forgiven Erasmus and that his rants have played a part in the panel’s decision.
“My word, World Rugby can hold a grudge … Rassie not named COTY is probably the most ridiculous thing I have seen in rugby this year, and my oath, there have been some ridiculous things in rugby this year!!!” Front Row Grunt wrote.
Meanwhile, Alex Goldberg added: “Rassie has won two World Cups back to back, Lions Tour, Champions Cup, 3 from 3 Autumn Tour, #1 Ranked Team in the World & could field another that would top the rankings, but still gets nothing from @WorldRugby. It’s criminal. It’s more than personal, it’s a vendetta with them.”
No nominees
Between 2001 – the advent of the award – and 2014, when World Rugby was called the International Rugby Board, they tended not to announce any nominees for coach of the year. However, that changed in 2015 and has remained the case until this year.
Interestingly, 2024 is the first time Erasmus has been eligible for the award since the bans, having switched back from director of rugby to head coach, which will no doubt send the conspiracy theorists into overdrive.
“The level of hatred world rugby has for Rassie Erasmus is getting ridiculous,” one person wrote. “Rassie has just won back to back World Cups and won 11 out of 13 games for this year and this is what you believe is the Coach of the year? This is a Joke.”
Respected rugby analyst Sam Larner disagreed that Erasmus has been robbed, however, as he praised Daret for France’s revival in sevens.
“This seems largely uncontroversial? Took a very mediocre/bad team who failed to qualify for the 2020 Olympics and best World Cup finish was 5th to home Olympic gold,” Larner wrote.
“If your comment is ‘who’, there’s a site called Wikipedia that can stop you being embarrassed.”
Meanwhile, South African journalist Jon Cardinelli made a good suggestion, something which could reduce the controversy if implemented going forward.
“World Rugby names individual Men’s 15s, Women’s 15s, Sevens winners across specific categories, but one Coach of the Year award covers all teams?” Cardinelli wrote.
“15s and 7s are different codes. Also feels unfair (to both) that coaches in Men’s and Women’s rugby aren’t acknowledged separately.”
