Distinguished former Test umpire Wayne Barnes has praised the Springboks for their ability to find loopholes in the laws of the game, even if they sometimes cross that line.

The official has taken charge of South Africa on several occasions, most recently coming in the 2023 Rugby World Cup final.

From Rassie Erasmus joined the Books Established in 2018, they have explored different ways of exploiting the law book and it has paid off with successive World Cup titles.

Barnes has revealed some examples of Erasmus’ meticulous approach, including one during the 2021 British and Irish Lions series, where he caused a stir as South Africa’s ‘water boy’.

Understanding the laws

“This weekend at Twickenham we will see a visiting team and a manager who not only know the law book word for word, but who also knows the match day regulations almost as if they were the ones who wrote them.” , said the former referee. wrote in his Telegraph column.

“During the 2021 Lions tour, I was on the sidelines during the Springboks’ opening match against Georgia. In the opening minutes of the match, I called for an offside penalty from the sideline and found a large presence looming next to me, telling his team that “they’re going to be hot on this This evening “.

“The water carrier wasn’t what I would normally expect to work with the team’s fluids. Often this was the team’s strength and conditioning or kicking coach. But that night it was World Cup-winning coach Rassie Erasmus.

“He and his team had realized that the way the regulations were written meant that he could not only ‘hydrate’ his team but, as Erasmus now had the title of director of rugby, he could also be available to broadcast messages and training tactics too.

The Springboks travel to Twickenham to face England Saturday and Barnes wouldn’t be surprised if Erasmus had something unique up his sleeve this weekend.

“I always appreciated their ingenuity and the way they jumped on the ambiguities of the law book; It must be the lawyer in me,” he wrote.

“Don’t be surprised if this weekend we see another gem in their box of tricks, especially with some new faces in the South African coaching box.”

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Controversies and change of approach

Erasmus has not been afraid to criticize referees in his inimitable way, often taking to X, formerly Twitter, to post videos suggesting officials may have made a key decision wrong.

Barnes found this out the hard way after receiving death threats following the Springboks’ defeat to France in 2022, a situation which was exacerbated by a social media post from the then director of rugby .

But it was an incident during the 2021 Lions tour that particularly upset many, including the Englishman, when an hour-long video was released in which the Boks boss harshly criticized the referee Nic Berry after the first test.

This landed him in hot water as he was banned by World Rugby for two months, while he also received a two-match suspension for his implied criticism of Barnes in November 2022.

Since then, Erasmus and South Africa have apparently changed course and brought former Test umpire Jaco Peyper into their backroom team.

“Jaco has been recruited to begin rebuilding the relationship between the Springboks and World Rugby’s high performance referees, following Rassie Erasmus’ unprecedented and unacceptable attack on Nic Berry during the 2021 Lions Test,” he said. added Barnes.

“While I appreciate inventiveness in legal matters, the decision to go after Nic was calculated, vindictive and undermined the values ​​of rugby. This attack earned him a ban from all rugby activity for two months.

“I learned quite quickly that when fans see a coach or manager criticizing a referee in public, it has a ripple effect. And when the coach of the world champions publicly decided to criticize me, others felt entitled to join in, the attitude seemed to be: “If he can do it, why can’t I?”

“Bringing in Jaco is a smart move by the Springboks, not only to improve their relationship but also to improve their discipline, and if you need proof that referees play a vital role in a training setup, he you just have to look across the Channel to see the impact that Jérôme Garcès has had on the French team.

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