Eddie Jones urges World Rugby to deal with Rassie Erasmus case ‘quickly’
The England head coach believes the South Africa director of rugby’s video rant could set a dangerous precedent.
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Your support makes all the difference.Eddie Jones has called for a swift resolution to the disciplinary action launched against South Africa boss Rassie Erasums in order to set an example to the game.
Erasmus has been widely condemned for the 62-minute long video released before the second Test against the Lions in July during which he criticised the performance of officials during the series opener.
A date has yet to be set for Erasmus’ misconduct hearing but World Rugby is expected to make an example of the Springboks’ director of rugby.
England head coach Jones objects to the video that ultimately influenced the second Test won by South Africa, but does see room for improvement in the standard of officiating.
“It should be dealt with quickly,” Jones told BBC Radio 5 Live.
“We need to make sure that we have respect in the game because we are asking kids to be respectful to the referee and if they see examples of players or coaches being disrespectful to the referee it gives them an excuse to do it at their level.
“The game is in a good place but we have to be careful and I think there are some issues in the game we need to look at very carefully. One of them is the diligence of the referees to referee the important part of the game well.
“Rassie made his famous video and I don’t think that is correct, but we need to make sure the referees work as a three a lot harder than they do at the moment to ensure that particularly at the breakdown we get what we need to get, which is a fair contest between contest and continuity.
“But there is an appropriate way to do it and that is being respectful to the referee.”