Back in 2021, the Springboks secured a hard-fought 2-1 series win over the British & Irish Lions, but the tour was marred by a number of controversies and a well-publicised spat between Rassie Erasmus and Warren Gatland.
Erasmus was then serving as South Africa’s director of rugby, but he was still very involved in various aspects of the Springboks’ preparations, while Gatland was once again the coach of the touring team.
During the tour, Erasmus also found himself at the centre of a highly controversial leaked video in which he criticised World Rugby and match officials, and which eventually led to a lengthy ban.
The series was also played behind closed doors during the Covid-19 pandemic, and was nearly called off after a number of positive tests severely disrupted proceedings.
Now, in a bombshell column written by Gatland in The Telegraph, he has accused Rassie Erasmus and the Springboks of spying on the Lions.
“We felt that during the tour we were spied on while we were based at the Arabella Country Estate near the coastal town of Hermanus,” he wrote.
“The Covid restrictions meant we had to stay there during the three Tests, which were moved to Cape Town to reduce the risk of infection.
“We trained at the nearby Hermanus High School and although we had security guards checking out the potential sites where cameras could be placed, there was only so much they could do.
“Our suspicions grew in the first Test, when Lukhanyo Am hit Elliot Daly with a massive man-and-ball tackle, reading a move that we had not used before during the tour matches.
“Because there were no supporters in the stadium, we could hear what was being said in the Springboks’ coaches box. We could hear the messages being relayed to their physio on the pitch about the moves that they thought we were doing.
“Rassie was also on the pitch acting as a ‘water boy,’ carrying a piece of paper. One of the photographers got a picture of him holding the page standing beside Faf de Klerk, their scrumhalf, and after the game, we enlarged the photo which showed that there were some of our moves and calls on it.”
Gatland has aimed a bombshell accusation at the Springboks and Rassie Erasmus
The former Lions coach went on to suggest that the famed touring team had been filmed and photographed from a covert location.
“The first Test experience seemed to confirm our fears. We just didn’t know how they could have so much information on us. We started training indoors in a gym to negate the suspicion we had of being watched. But we still felt we were being filmed.
“Our concern was that they were using a long-range lens to video us from somewhere nearby.
“Later on, well after the tour had finished, I talked to someone who is well-connected in South Africa, who told me that a house that overlooked our training pitch had been rented for the duration of the series and that a long-lens camera had been placed in the top corner of the house to record us.
“It was so frustrating because you go on tour with plans to use different moves and options, but if the opposition knows what they are, they can plan to defend them. I am not sure in other sports like football it would have the same impact. I think there is a lot of it going on in the game at the minute.”
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