Rassie Erasmus accused of misogyny on eve of Rugby World Cup semi-final

South Africa director of rugby Rassie Erasmus has been accused of misogyny ahead of the Springboks’ Rugby World Cup semi-final.

The 50-year-old has been active on social media in the lead-up to the clash against England.

On Thursday afternoon, Erasmus defended Cobus Reinach on X, formerly known as Twitter, after the scrum-half was subjected to death threats.

He then took to the social media platform later that day to announce that he was ‘blocking’ journalist Ben Smith, who works for the World Rugby-affiliated RugbyPass.

The message

A screenshot was accompanied by a message, which read: “Guys lets ignore her please! Block her and let her bask in peace!! Us Lions does not care about the opinion of a sheep.”

That immediately drew criticism, with Hazel Pinner writing: “Dear Mr Erasmus, could you channel the class of your players and not invoke casual misogyny? Okay don’t like what someone is posting, block them, make a comment.

“Don’t post it in a tone that makes it clear you think being female is somehow an insult. Sincerely, women globally.”

Jo Staples added: “Rassie your post in support of the SA Women was a great one especially given you are in the middle of your RWC campaign. Your use of her in this post detracts from that.

“There are so many other things you could have called Ben that did not devalue girls and women. Kia ora.”

Erasmus added another post which said the use of “her” was a “typo”, but some questioned the fact that it was used three times.

Graham Love wrote: “If I made the same ‘typo’ three times in a tweet I’d probably delete it…”

Now deleted

South Africa’s director of rugby has since deleted the two tweets, but it was probably not the wisest thing to post just before the team’s biggest game in four years.

Journalist Jessica Hayden, who works for The Times, criticised Erasmus for his comments.

“Using ‘her’ as an insult. In 2023. When his players tweeted their support of their women’s team only hours before this. Lovely stuff from a lovely man,” she wrote on X.

Rugby analyst and writer Will Owen put: “So is the joke that Rassie thinks women don’t understand rugby”, while another added: “How is being a female an insult?”

The Springboks take on England in the semi-finals of the Rugby World Cup in Paris on Saturday night.

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