Pretty heavy sanctions, good. Will hopefully stop other coaches from acting the dick in future.
So, Rassie Erasmus found guilty on six counts:
Murray K: Rassie Erasmus has been suspended from all rugby activities for two months. He's also suspended from all match-day activities until 30 September, 2022. He has also been warned as to his future conduct and will have to apologise to the relevant match officials.
Match-day activities include coaching, contact with match officials, and media engagement. SA Rugby has been fined £20,000. Also given warning as to future conduct and will need to offer an apology to the relevant match officials.
A snippet from a mail from Erasmus to Nic Berry, also from Murray K:
https://twitter.com/Murray_Kinsella/status/1461025231569670151/photo/1
Point 1 is a bit more serious than merely releasing it off the bat.
That's just horrible, awful awful news. Utterly devastating for them..
Christ I can’t imagine how awful that is for them.
Jannie Du Plessis' 1 year old son drowned in their swimming pool yesterday
Awful news. So sad
Hooper has been outstanding for australia this year. a dark horse imo for POTY.
Disagree on Dupont; he was himself during the 6N. Scored three tries, named in every team of the tournament I've seen (official, Rugby World, Planet Rugby etc). Still tends to be the most influential player on the field in most games he plays in.
No doubt the guy is class. But I’m just not sure that this year he’s deserving of the nomination.
Dupont didn't play that much (only international matches count) as he missed the Australia tour. He wasn't massively impressive in the 6N, truth be told, well below his club level and his performances in 2020.
Kerevi was huge in the RC games against SA but I didn't really see much of him apart from that.
Hooper was the best player on the pitch in the matches I saw him in. I'd consider him a shoo-in and probably the only player who really deserved inclusion on this list. The absence of any South Africans is odd. Am should have been shortlisted.
Looking at the 4 I'd see it like this
Dupont - Fully deserves to be on the list this year , has been outstanding throughout.
Itoje - Has been excellent for several years , but other than 3 or 4 games for the Lions was pretty average for 2021.
Hooper - Again , outstanding for several years, perhaps the best 7 in the world over the last few seasons , but not sure if his 2021 performances quite reached "top 4 players in the world" standard.
Kerevi - Very good player , potentially in the "world class" category , but nothing about his performances this year suggest he's quite at "best in the world" levels.
So for me you've got 1 player there based on being excellent in 2021 (Dupont) , 2 that are there based on their overall careers but not on this years performances (Itoje & Hooper) and 1 that I really don't quite see the reasoning for (Kerevi).
Absolutely agree but player of the year. He's had much much better years.
He'd be a permanent fixture in every team in the world. He just didn't have an outstanding season in 2021 by his ridiculously high standards.
But Tadhg Furlong would still be my favourite player.
If Itoje was Irish, he’d be a permanent fixture in the starting XV and everyone’s favourite player.
Yes. I was wondering if he would even make the Lions given his penalty count. It was horrific.
Was he not an absolute penalty machine in the 6Ns?
Dupont will walk it. Itoje was the best player from either team on the Lions and was the one really good player in a poor enough England team. He probably is one of the best players in the world right now, despite how the teams around him are playing.
Itoje is good player but recently...... Lions lose. England 5th in 6 Nations. No European games and no EPL games.
Very odd.
Kerevi is the real head-scratcher for me.
There are several centres that have been better/more consistent than him in the last 12 months , let alone players in other positions - Am , DeAllende , Henshaw for a start.
I'm guessing Itoje gets the nomination on the back of winning Lions player of the series. He didn't have a great Six Nations for England anyway.
Itoje?? World player of the year?
Ive no idea how these lists are drawn up but..........
2004
When was the last time there were no ABs on the list?
World Player of the Year nominees:
Hooper
Kerevi
Dupont
Itoje
Not quite sure how Am and DeAllende haven’t been nominated. I’d have said Am was POTY.
edit: I hope Hooper wins it, he’s one of the all time greats.
Yes I guess it would though of the 8 potential hosts. Most of the NH tournaments have been joint efforts.
The North then South thing was always going to die a death considering there are up to 8 potential hosts in the north and 3 (4 at a push) in the south.
Japan are generally not regarded as a NH side. Though then again the way things are going SA will be.
If it was a rule then 2023 should be down south eh 😉
It’s strange as it’s always followed north and south.
They did yeah
Did SA bid for 23?
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