'Can't talk s***': Rassie Erasmus' audio rant attacks Nick Mallett

South African director of rugby Rassie Erasmus has gone on a rant about Nick Mallett, his former Springboks coach. Mallett was head coach of the national side when Erasmus won the majority of his 36 caps before the turn of the millennium, but they have now had a spectacular falling out.

While Erasmus these days is the high-profile performance boss at SA Rugby, Mallett works as a pundit for SuperSport, the South African broadcaster, and the current DoR has taken grave exception to some recent observations made by Mallett.

Erasmus, whose Twitter posts about referees resulted in a World Rugby suspension during the Autumn Nations Series, returned to the platform overnight to publish a two-minute, 20-second audio message that slammed Mallett for his comments and the diatribe ended with the SA Rugby boss telling his former coach: “You can’t talk this s*** to the people.”

Joined by Swys de Bruin, Hanyani Shimange and host Owen Nkumane, Mallett had debated the state of South African rugby and levelled criticism at Erasmus, suggesting the DoR wasn’t doing his job. Erasmus has now hit back, accusing Mallett of being far away from the truth.

“I struggled to sleep because I was really upset about your comments last week on Final Whistle,” began Erasmus on the audio clip. “It’s the things that you said without any substance behind it. So Nick, I am just going to tell you straight up: You don’t know what a rugby director is or what his job is.

“Obviously, I am not appointing coaches. I have no authority in appointing coaches. The second thing is I do have a programme running called the fast-tracking of elite black players who haven’t had the opportunity in Super Rugby and URC. We are fast-tracking them. We have a sponsor and we are proud of that programme.

“The thing that you guys talk about playing not running sideways… we have EPD systems from U15s where players learn. Some learn it great, some don’t learn it as great but I would urge you to go and sit with Louis Koen and all the EPD managers who without any budget are running those programmes to make sure those guys are getting better at it.

“Then obviously when you say things like I must get the referees right, that I must stop tweeting about the Springboks - the Springboks are the most important thing. That is my first priority and I will do anything to make the Springboks win so please don’t stop me at anything there.

“Then the second thing you said is I must bring the referees through. We are bringing referees through but it has to be accepted by World Rugby. If you can help in any way there it would be really, really great for you to help us.

“Nick, I am not going to fight with you in any way. I am just saying between what is happening on the ground and what you guys are showing as a show on SuperSport, somewhere there is a truth. I would suggest I am close to that truth whilst currently you are far away from the truth and you are missing the ball with quite a distance.

“Obviously, you know me well, I love you… but unfortunately my man I will have to rectify you and send you some stats and get this out there because you can’t talk this s*** to the people.”

• Click here to listen to the full Rassie Erasmus audio message