For the second week in a row, the Springboks were reduced to 14 men after utility forward Franco Mostert received a red card for a dangerous tackle, which followed on from the same fate suffered by Lood de Jager against France.
Both decisions sparked plenty of debate, but in particular, the call against Mostert was viewed by most to be completely incorrect.
Within the next 48 hours, Mostert is now expected to hear if he will face a suspension, but assistant coach Mzwandile Stick has joined Rassie Erasmus in raising some serious questions about the fairness of the decision-making at the moment.
“I think Sous (Mostert) will be having his hearing tomorrow or Wednesday and we’ll also be putting in another appeal for De Jager again. But once again as a team, we’re just disappointed with how things are,” Stick said.
“At the moment – week by week – we’re losing players and it’s sad that everyone was looking forward to the Italy game and for it to turn out the way it did, is just disappointing.
“If you look at Franco Mostert’s actions – and even those of Lood de Jager the previous week – they’ve done everything by the book. The only mistake is that maybe the contact was high and near the head, but I don’t understand how that becomes a permanent [red card],” he added.
“Looking at the Fiji and France game and the cleanouts that were there, same with Ireland-Australia situations that were even worse than what those guys have been suspended for. They are suspended but other players will come back again this week. Surely somewhere, somehow, this is not fair. I don’t think we deserve this as a team. Are we treated fairly? I don’t think so.”
Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus was also outspoken on the red cards
Speaking after Saturday’s game against Italy, Erasmus also suggested they needed some answers.
“I always thought we wanted to get to 20-minute red cards, and we have to re-check on that, but it’s not my place to talk about it. However, for a captain to twice in a week to suffer for us to win is sad.
“I’m not saying the calls were wrong, but I definitely saw a lot of other shots in the game. By that I’m not criticising, that is life, and once we review the game, we may come to a different conclusion and see that we were totally wrong, and then we have to rectify it.
“We got a red card, and they got a yellow card, which I probably thought was the right call, but losing two locks in two games now for going lower than they can go, it’s tough to understand.
“Again, I’m not saying anyone is wrong, but we don’t know how to coach guys to go lower, especially for a two-meter-tall guy to face someone who is on his knees is tough. And then to play with 13 men, and them with 14 for a while, it was tougher than last week.”
Attention turns to Ireland
While the Springboks seek some clarity from World Rugby, they have now turned attention to this Saturday’s clash against Ireland.
South Africa began their on-field preparations for Saturday’s clash on Monday afternoon. The Test kicks off at 19:40 (SA time) and will be broadcast live and exclusively on SuperSport.
