Rassie Erasmus: ‘People think I leaked that video but I didn’t’

Dylan Coetzee

Rassie Erasmus, Director of Rugby during the Third Test of the 2021 British and Irish Lions Rugby Tour between South Africa and BI Lions at Cape Town Stadium on 07 August 2021 ©Sports Inc

South Africa director of rugby Rassie Erasmus still maintains that he did not leak the controversial video that saw him suspended by World Rugby.

The 62-minute video – from the first Test between the Springboks and British and Irish Lions series last year – took apart the performance of referee Nic Berry.

Double ban

World Rugby banned Erasmus from all rugby-related activity for two months, which ended in January, and from match-day activity until the end of September this year.

In an exclusive interview with the Daily Mail, the World Cup-winning coach discussed how the controversy affected him and his family.

“I want people to know that I’m not this monster that I’ve been portrayed as,” he told the newspaper.

“Did you know my sister lives in Reading? She’s a social worker for the NHS. Fully invested in the English life. She loves the Royal Family, sings God Save the Queen and would stand outside clapping for the old guy, Sir Tom, who walked up and down his garden 100 times during the lockdown.

“After what happened during the Lions tour, it felt like her family in the UK were the only people outside of South Africa who didn’t hate me. How do you think that makes you feel? It feels awful, man…

“Listen, I have never been a suit-and-tie guy who claims to be a saint. I have never said I will be a life coach. I have never had slogans like ‘better people make better rugby players’. I have never said I’m the world’s greatest father. Yeah, I’ve always been a bit naughty and enjoyed a giggle but I’ve always been an honest guy.

“People think I leaked that video. I didn’t. Who leaks something like that? Why would I screw up my whole career to do that? I’ve got twin girls, 18 years old, who are at school and they hear other parents telling them how their dad had f***** it all up. 

“My mum is at an old-age home and they’re showing her articles saying, ‘Rassie’s lost it, he’s got depression, he’s drunk’. They think those things because they are indoctrinated that I leaked that video. I want to tell the world that, swearing on my youngest child’s life, I did not leak that video. 

“Many people have already made up their mind. How do you change people’s perception when World Rugby have found me guilty and banned me for 12 months? I don’t want people to feel sorry for me. I just want them to know what really happened.”

After the video went public, Erasmus found himself in a difficult space and was even too “nervous” to be on the same bus as his players.

“Before that second Test I was crying in my room. I cried out of fear. I was afraid. If we had lost the second Test can you imagine the s*** I would have got from my own people? 

“I would have been the guy who messed it up. I would have been finished. It was the scariest night of my career. The most intense week of my life. I was too nervous to get on the bus with the players. I drove in a separate car.”

READ MORE: Sean Fitzpatrick says South Africa’s departure would be ‘devastating’