David Gillick sat down with Stephen Ferris during the week, for one of our regular Balls chats with the ex-Irish international, in association with Ladbrokes.com.
Naturally, the topic veered to that of Rassie Erasmus and the recent Twitter tirades from South Africa's Director of Rugby.
His thinly veiled and sarcastic criticism of recent officiating, following tight games against Ireland and France, have created a toxic storm on social media, with many pundits highly critical of Erasmus' behaviour, while some staunch South African supporters have defended their esteemed leader.
Stephen Ferris On Rassie Erasmus
Stephen Ferris has made it abundantly clear that he does not agree with Erasmus' actions, but he did take a softer approach to the subject, and is of the opinion that what Erasmus was saying in his Twitter videos was correct, despite his crass ways of putting his message across.
"Personally I don’t agree with the way he goes about putting the information on social media," began Ferris. "We all know there’s a reason why he does it.
"My opinion of why he does it is so these small things that he’s pointing out don’t happen to him in a rugby World Cup and that they don’t cost his team the match in the end.
There’s no doubting that everything he’s putting up is right. Yes, a few of the decisions might be argued either way. He’s a smart guy, he’s an intelligent guy, I don’t think he cares, I don’t think he two hoots what people think of him.
"You know the South African team as a whole, he’s just trying to get the best out of his players, and try and give them the best opportunity possible to go and win another rugby World Cup.
READ HERE: Shane Horgan Slates "Embarrassing" Rassie Erasmus Antics
"No doubt this weekend we’ll see another few tweets," continued the Ulsterman. "It will be really interesting to see if they get a big victory, will we get as many tweets, but we’ll wait and see.
"You know you’re sitting after the game sort of scrolling through your Facebook, just waiting for the Rassie Erasmus tweet to show up.
"And yes it is good viewing, but I just think it is a little disrespectful towards the referees and towards the game.
"And you know, it almost feels like it’s ok for Rassie to do it, but if every other coach started doing it then I think you’ll find yourself in a cul de sac of negative media coming out the back of that.
"So maybe it needs to be nipped in the bud at some stage but I don’t think that’s going to happen any time yet."
SEE ALSO: Rassie Erasmus Outdoes Himself With 5 More Twitter Videos Criticising Last Night's Officiating
