Rassie Erasmus has doubled down on his criticism that both coaches need to be present for meetings with a referee before a match.<\/p>\n
Ahead of the opening Test match of Rugby\u2019s Greatest Rivalry<\/a> series against the All Blacks, the Springboks<\/a> boss said that World Rugby\u2019s insistence that both head coaches need to attend any meeting with officials has forced teams to voice their concerns in the media instead.<\/p>\n Erasmus and his counterpart Dave Rennie both confirmed that they would not be meeting with referee Matthew Carley before the first Test, and the former has stated that he won\u2019t be changing tack ahead of the clash in Cape Town with Georgian referee Nika Amashukeli in charge.<\/p>\n Rassie Erasmus on World Rugby\u2019s referee meeting<\/p>\n He believes that there is little point in discussing anything with the officials with the opposition coach in attendance, as previously, the meetings were used to prepare the referees about certain ploys or tactics.<\/p>\n \u201cIn my opinion, it\u2019s impossible to discuss something with the referee with the other coach present,\u201d Erasmus<\/a> told reporters on Tuesday.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m going to say, \u2018Listen, we are concerned about this in the scrums,\u2019 and he\u2019s going to say, \u2018But we do this in the scrums\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe meetings were always about what you were going to try and do on the day, so they can be prepped for what your plans are in the game. So you might say, listen, these guys really clean out well at the breakdown; if we get trapped in the breakdown and they hold us down, what can we do to get up? Will you be looking at that, or must we find a way using them to get off the ground?<\/p>\n \u201cBut you can\u2019t have that discussion in front of the referee; then the opposition coach knows that\u2019s what you\u2019re looking at.<\/p>\n \u201cSo what do you discuss with the referee? Boys, are you going to play within the laws? Are you going to do this? I mean, the laws of the game are the laws, so it\u2019s almost impossible.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2018How does this happen?\u2019 \u2013 Victor Matfield and Nick Mallett baffled by vital referee calls that went against the Springboks<\/a><\/p>\n Beers with Dave Rennie<\/p>\n While Erasmus says that a meeting with the officials won\u2019t be taking place this week, he did reveal that he plans to catch up with the All Blacks<\/a> boss ahead of the second Test match but on a far more casual basis.<\/p>\n \u201cDave and I had a beer afterwards, and we\u2019re going to try and catch up on Friday for a beer in Cape Town, when we were there before the game, but without the referee,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cIn my opinion, there\u2019s no logic behind two coaches meeting together and discussing the laws with the referees.\u201d<\/p>\n Want more from Planet Rugby? Add us as a preferred source on Google to your favourites list<\/a> for world-class coverage you can trust.<\/p>\n Coaches are frustrated<\/p>\n Last week, Erasmus said that World Rugby\u2019s decision to force both coaches to be present for the meeting to go ahead has left many frustrated.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s definitely frustration among the coaches that you can\u2019t have meetings with the referee if both teams don\u2019t agree, and it\u2019s now at a stage where you almost accept that both teams\u2019 coaches aren\u2019t always going to agree to a pre-match meeting,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n \u201cI myself this week said no we don\u2019t need one because it doesn\u2019t help now, after they played four games, and now we wanted to sort out things in three training sessions.<\/p>\n