Assistant coach Mzwandile Stick has hit out at the ‘unfair’ treatment of the Springboks in recent weeks after Lood de Jager and Franco Mostert’s permanent red cards.
Stick revealed that South Africa will be appealing the four-match ban handed down to De Jager following his permanent sending-off against France at the Stade de France a fortnight ago. Meanwhile, Mostert is set to face a disciplinary panel in the build-up to the game against Ireland in Dublin this weekend.
“We are losing players”
Speaking from Dublin, the assistant coach said that the Boks are disappointed about the decisions that resulted in two red cards after actions that were deemed to have always been illegal and claims that if those actions warranted a red card, there were at least five other incidents last week that should have resulted in the sending offs.
“Sous [Mostert] is going to have a hearing on Tuesday or Wednesday, and Lood de Jager will also be going through an appeal. At the moment, as a team, we are disappointed with how things are flowing. Every week, we are losing players,” he told reporters on Monday.
“It’s sad that the build-up towards the Italy game was really good. Everyone was looking forward to that game; if you look at how Italy played the week before, and then the spirit in Turin. And then the game turns out like that.
“If Franco Mostert’s actions warranted a red card, surely there would have been more than five red cards over the weekend. All of a sudden, other situations become a yellow card, and I think we’re just disappointed with the way things are being handled.”
Springboks greats accuse officials of ‘fabricating’ events to red card Franco Mostert
Dissapointment
Rassie Erasmus was also frustrated after the victory over Italy on Saturday and said that the officiating of the head shots in the match weren’t treated equally. The head coach also highlighted the constant communication that referee James Doleman was getting from his assistants.
Stick echoed those sentiments this week: “If you look at the actions of Franco Mostert, even with Lood de Jager the previous week, he has done everything by the book; the only mistake was that the contact was on the shoulder, but it ended up on the head. So I don’t understand how it becomes a permanent red card.
“From us as the coaches, we still have to work hard because we are working with these nice, tall guys; they try to do everything by the book, but because rugby is a physical game, sometimes you don’t get it perfect.
“But for them to say those tackles were never legal, it’s disappointing, because once that game could have been a very nice, beautiful game of rugby to watch. Italy deserve respect, I felt like they had everything in their powers to control the game.
“I feel for the ref because we understood the communication that was happening between him and his team, probably about 21 decisions that were supposed to be made in the first half, before 45 minutes, 20 of them went against us, not because of the ref. Unfortunately, he has to respect the communications from his team outside.
“So yes, disappointed about it. I feel for Italy, and I would like to apologise for how things turned out because they’ve got a good coaching staff and their players were up for the game, but for other things to happen like that, I don’t think they deserve what they got in that game.”
Springboks being treated unfairly
Since returning to South Africa in 2018, Erasmus has twice been banned by World Rugby for criticising referees, most recently in 2022 when he posted clips on social media of perceived injustice.
Stick was wary of this when he was asked whether the Springboks are being ‘unfairly treated’ in games, but did say that the team doesn’t deserve the cards they are being dealt.
“I’m not too sure. I don’t want to say things, and then I end up also being banned like Rassie in the past,” the former South African sevens international said.
“But if you look at the past four red cards, we had Makazole Mapimpi suspended, who is not on tour at the moment – the guy is on 47 Test matches and missed out on an opportunity to make it to 50. Jan-Hendrik Wessels, a youngster, also missed out because of a suspension.
“Lood de Jager, after this weekend and everything that I’ve seen from the Fiji and France game – the cleanouts that were there – and in the Ireland game against Australia, those situations were even worse than what those guys have been suspended for. Other players will come back and play this week, but they are suspended.
Can someone explain how this isn’t a yellow card? #IREvAUS pic.twitter.com/RCZbzc8TtN
— Jobson Growthe (@electricBAU) November 15, 2025
“So surely somewhere, somehow, and this is not fair. I don’t think we deserve this as a team.
“We’re doing everything in our power to make sure that we send the right message when it comes to how we play the game. We play in a good spirit. We’ve never talked badly about other teams. We always try to play in a good spirit, and hopefully, things can just be between the four lines. So, are we treated fairly? I don’t think so.”