South Africa's director of rugby, Rassie Erasmus, has been sanctioned by an independent committee established by World Rugby.
The committee has handed him a two-month ban from all rugby-related activities and a further 10-and-a-half month ban from all match-day activities.
That means Erasmus will have to wait until September 30th, 2022 to take part in South Africa's matchday routines, including any form of coaching and media attendance.
The ban comes as a result of the former Munster man's treatment of match officials during the British and Irish Lions tests last summer.
South Africa rugby have also received sanctions. They have been fined and issued a warning with a seven-day appeal period.
Erasmus was vocal in his criticism of the officiating. So much so that he released an hour-long video ranting about the match officials after the first test.
Mind Games Back To Haunt Erasmus
The video Erasmus released over the summer was just one of many attempts to try and unsettle the visiting British and Irish Lions team.
He appeared as a water boy during the Lions' warmup match with South Africa 'A' and even carried on the role into the first test.
Erasmus tried to justify his strange role on the sidelines in his 'rant', saying there was a loophole in the regulations on matchday.
"Myself being a water carrier - there's a set of rules that say the only guy who can't be a water carrier is the head coach, which Jacques Nienebar is currently."
"Also, another technical point on that is that there was always only two water carriers. World Rugby actually allowed this year that you can have three."
It's a loophole Erasmus has exercised on many an occasion, including most recently in South Africa's autumn international against Scotland:
Swys was loving Rassie Erasmus giving Willie le Roux sneaky instructions during his sideline waterboy duties against Scotland 😏 pic.twitter.com/2EiXvx0FCf
— SuperSport 🏆 (@SuperSportTV) November 15, 2021
During the summer, Erasmus also claimed that the Lions had controlled the media in the buildup to the tests, to make the referees more aware of their physical nature.
He claimed the referee for the first test, Nic Berry, had treated Lions' skipper Alun-Wyn Jones with more respect than Siya Kolisi.
Then there were suggestions that Rassie was operating a 'burner' account on Twitter, which was giving highly detailed analysis on refereeing mistakes.
Erasmus was retweeting these tweets from an account with very little followers and no profile picture - agreeing with every assessment.
Before the Lions last warmup match against the Stormers, Erasmus also bizarrely commented under an Irish Examiner article calling out Warren Gatland.
While you at it please get clarity on this also !! 🔴🟡 penalty or play on ? We have to 100% sure and aligned ! Cant agree more pic.twitter.com/OxBReYlMXq
— Rassie Erasmus (@RassieRugby) July 16, 2021
See Also: The Massive Differences Between Ireland's Wins Over The All Blacks In 2018 and 2021
