Rassie Erasmus has hit back at Warren Gatland’s allegations that the Springboks spied on the British & Irish Lions in 2021.
In a column for The Telegraph, former Lions coach Gatland alleged that Erasmus and the Springbok coaching team may have had insight into the Lions’ training sessions during their stay in Hermanus.
The Springboks won the lockdown-hit Test series 2-1 in Cape Town after losing the first Test.
MORE: Springboks spied on Lions – Gatland
Erasmus responded with a series of X posts on Saturday night, the first relating to Gatland’s comment that “our suspicions grew in the first Test, when Lukhanyo Am hit Elliot Daly with a massive man-and-ball tackle, reading a move that we had not used before during the tour matches”.
Lukie dit really well to read that one skip pass(we call that a 100) Exceptional read to see the one skip pas and make the tackle! pic.twitter.com/gZMS7pjOfJ
— Johan Erasmus (@RassieRugby) July 4, 2025
Erasmus then addressed Gatland’s claim that “Rassie was also on the pitch acting as a ‘water boy,’ carrying a piece of paper … we enlarged the photo which showed that there were some of our moves and calls on it.”
Damn they manage to decipher our Afrikaans game plan! Kudos to you! Great spying 🤝 pic.twitter.com/L131qG76ek
— Johan Erasmus (@RassieRugby) July 4, 2025
Erasmus also shared an article from November 2021 about the Springboks twice being evacuated from their Cardiff hotel overnight ahead of a Test against Wales in Cardiff.
https://t.co/xQx4iXdNZK
I hear from a source from within the wales camp that whilst we were evacuated all our notes and plans were photographed and the white board sheets taken. We were again forced at around 06h00 for another evacuation!! https://t.co/5vyheAHYSX— Johan Erasmus (@RassieRugby) July 4, 2025
Photo: David Rogers/Getty Images
