Rassie Erasmus taking shots at Nick Mallett in public detracts from a healthy debate about the state of South African rugby, according to MARK KEOHANE.
Erasmus took to Twitter on Saturday morning to blast Mallett – who the former played under when the Springboks won the Tri Nations in 1998 – for comments made in the latest episode of SuperSport’s panel show, Final Whistle.
When asked by host Owen Nkumane about the state of coaching in South Africa, Mallett levelled criticism at Erasmus, suggesting SA Rugby’s director of rugby was not doing his job.
ICYMI – Rassie returns to Twitter with Mallett rant
In his TimesLIVE column, Keohane applauded Mallett’s view on the sport in the Republic, and suggested Erasmus should have met with his fellow former Bok coach for “a breakfast or a workshop” rather than attack him on social media.
“What differentiates Mallett is that he is Nick Mallett. He has big opinions and they are ones I want to hear as a rugby enthusiast and also as a rugby reporter,” he writes.
“They’re educational and they also add to the discussion and debate that should always be a part of South African rugby.
“Defence is the first point of attack, and I felt Erasmus’ early morning Twitter rant in response to Mallett’s criticism of his role as director of rugby was one that was delivered very defensively.
ALSO: SA Rugby should chop 10 provinces – Mallett
“Equally, I found it educational because of what Erasmus had to say about all the respective national programmes he had put in place at SA Rugby. But he picked the wrong forum and time of the morning to respond.
“His retort to Mallett was spoken as if he remains the Bok coach. The two roles were separated on [Jacques] Nienaber’s appointment and when Mallett spoke out on Erasmus failing, it was in his role as director of rugby.
“Rassie’s social media retort does not add to the story telling. It detracts from it. It comes across as whinging more than winning.”
Photo: Adam Pretty/ALLSPORT