The decision to punish South Africa’s director of rugby for his video rant during the Lions tour took far too long
When Rassie Erasmus’s remarkable video came to light during the British & Irish Lions tour of South Africa it was the height of summer in the UK. By the time World Rugby released its long overdue verdict this week, Christmas trees had already gone up and festive music has started playing on the radio. For an organisation that is supposed to be the guardian of the game, such a delay is unsatisfactory.
To put into perspective just how crazy it is that it took four months to deliver, consider what would have happened had it been a player in the dock. If a player is deemed to have done something worthy of a disciplinary hearing in a match on a Saturday they would be sanctioned by the middle of the following week.