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Rassie Erasmus has revealed proof of death threats levelled against Springbok Cobus Reinach and his family.
The South Africa director of coaching shared the sickening online threat on his own social channels on Friday (AEDT).
The Springboks’ win over France in their quarter-final, where the hosts felt they were hard done by by referee Ben O’Keeffe, has seen a torrent of social media abuse thrown at the South Africans.
Reinach, who plays his club rugby in France for Montpellier, received two messages: one directed at him and another at his son.
“Dirty son of a bitch, I hope that when you return to Montpellier you get murdered by French people on the ground, gang of thieves easy to win a title by cheating,” is the translation of the post.
The post included a photo of Reinach’s son which read “go die.”
Test refereeing legend Nigel Owens has given Ben O’Keeffe the all clear on at least one big talking point out of the French loss.
Early in the game and the French ahead 7-0 they looked to go further ahead when Eben Etzebeth knocked the ball down in an intercept attempt.
O’Keeffe and assistants ruled the ball was knocked backwards, to the dismay of French skipper Antoine Dupont. That saved the Boks lock from being penalised and yellow carded, as happened with All Black Aaron Smith the previous night.
“He [Etzebeth] is very, very lucky,” said Owens told the official World Cup site.
“He goes with one hand out. There is no way he’s going to catch this ball so what he tries to do, he tries to knock that ball backwards, which is legal. As long as you knock the ball backwards.
“If he’d made contact with that ball and that ball had gone forward, then it would have been a deliberate knock-on and a pretty certain yellow card as well here.
“Now, when you look at this footage, there’s a lot of debate about this. Some of you are saying: ‘Well, I think it’s gone forward’. Others are saying: ‘No, I think it’s gone backwards’.
“It really is a very, very difficult one. It’s impossible to see 100 percent, to put your house on it, to say if has gone forward or has it gone back.
“The referee looks at this and I have to say, I tend to agree with the referee here because it’s very difficult to say that it has gone forward or gone back, so the referee’s view and the TMO’s view is that the ball went backwards or certainly didn’t go clearly forward and therefore we have a play on.
“But remember, he’s very, very lucky. If that goes forward, it’s a pretty certain penalty and yellow card.”
Owens believed O’Keeffe got another divisive call right – a decision not to penalise Kwagga Smith for a breakdown turnover late in the game, with fans believing he should have been pinged for hands on the ground.
“Some of you have been debating. ‘What about the penalties, hands on ground, legal or not?’ Okay. Nothing in the law says that you can’t put your hands on the ground. So, we can’t say that any player that puts his hand on the ground is committing an offence, because it doesn’t say that in the law. So, the way that the referees will deal with this, is the law of the contact tackle area,” said Owens.
“So, if you come in to jackal the ball, what the jackler must do? He must release the ball carrier before he regathers on the ball, or if he’s not in contact with the ball carrier, when he comes in, he must maintain his own body weight.
“So, what he can’t do, is put his hands away or beyond the ball to support his body weight and then come on to the ball to gather. Now if he comes in and tries to go for the ball but in doing so because of the speed, his hands touches the ground around the ball, but that is not keeping his weight up – which means he’s supporting his own body weight – then we won’t necessarily penalise the hand touching the ground. We’d only penalise it if the hands are too far or he’s using the ground to support his body weight.
“So that’s what the referee decides. The referee needs to decide, was that hand supporting the bodyweight before he goes onto the ball and if so, it will be a penalty. If he feels well, he just touched the ground around the ball, it’s not supporting his body weight, then we’d have a play on.”
Owens did not buy into the Cheslin Kolbe charge down of Thomas Ramos’ conversion attempt, but new vision -released after a few days debate – suggested the officials got that one spot on.
All Blacks legend Dan Carter paid the team a visit earlier this week but has had to endure a gentle teasing from coach Ian Foster.
Foster said he had brought a number of legendary players into camp before the tournament adding, “we’ve been privileged enough to have some of them around during the tournament. The team love it and I love it as they’ve got a rich history of loving this jersey and what the jersey stands for.
“We have got a great way of transferring that on to this current group. Often it’s not done with words, sometimes it’s just about being there.”
But he couldn’t resist a little dig at Carter.
“We couldn’t get too close to Dan as he had a nice cream jacket on which meant none of us could hug him as we were all dirty. He was pretty protective about getting that dirty too so we kept our distance, but it was great having him in.”
Foster, meanwhile, was giving the Pumas fair dues before their semifinal.
“There are two teams. Anyone can win,” he said.
“We are massively respectful of Argentina. We don’t live in the past in terms of past results. Rugby World Cup tournaments are really about the present, it’s about the best team on the night.”
The Pumas defied the odds themselves on Saturday by beating Wales 29-17 from five behind with 12 minutes to go.
They have logged two wins over New Zealand in the last three years and Michael Cheika, who coached Australia to the 2015 final, has urged them to believe they are a great team who can make the final.
“We have to be clear about what is going to be required when the heat comes on,” Cheika said.
“When they come at us or when the battle is on, that is the moment you need to use those experiences (of previously beating New Zealand). That is where that comes in handy because you have felt it before, you have done it before.”
The Pumas have rebounded from the humbling loss to 14-man England with improving performances beside fan support that has made them feel like they’re home.
The Pumas have generally been slow starters and strong finishers, with goalkicking being a strong point. Emiliano Boffelli has 51 points in the tournament and Nicolas Sanchez has not missed a shot, with 11 from 11.
Argentina have six survivors from both of their wins against New Zealand — in 2020 in Sydney and in 2022 in Christchurch — including captain Julian Montoya, halves Gonzalo Bertranou and Santiago Carreras, and flanker Marcos Kremer, who made 26 tackles in Christchurch and leads the team in France with 55.
“Once you beat them once, perhaps you humanise them more,” assistant coach Felipe Contepomi said of New Zealand. “But the game starts 0-0.”
But New Zealand may have found a groove. After averaging 14 turnovers in the pool, the All Blacks conceded just three to Ireland and made 226 tackles, their most ever in a World Cup.
England football star Declan Rice says the team has taken inspiration from watching the All Blacks hold on against Ireland.
The team was in camp this week for a friendly against the Socceroos and a European Championship tie against Italy, and they won both.
Rice, who joined Arsenal from West Ham this year, noted the Kiwis brave effort to hold out the Irish through 37 phase at the death of their quarter-final.
“I’m not really the biggest of rugby fans but the games that I watched the other night have been gripping,” said Rice. “I think you see towards the end, Ireland had like 35 attacks in the last wave and New Zealand were on the line. We can take lessons from that, even though it’s a different sport. We can take lessons from the fact that it’s about leaving everything out there.
“Those top teams like South Africa, Ireland went out but they are number one team in the world, New Zealand. That mindset of getting over the line. That is what we’re now starting to achieve. We have all the talent but it is about that mindset and the drive to be the best and to win.
“If you want to win, you’ve got to do everything mentally and physically. All the subs that came onto the pitch, they all knew their roles. There was a lot of inspiration to take, especially from our England side as well, who were written off a lot and they are showing a lot of fight and character, as well. There’s lessons to be learned in other sports, for sure.”
(With agencies)
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