'I lost a lot of friends when I made Siya Kolisi captain' - Rassie Erasmus

Rassie Erasmus has opened on the impact of making Siya Kolisi the Springbok captain with some believing that the move was political.

Speaking exclusively to the Daily Mail, Erasmus looked back at the 2021 British and Irish Lions Series and still maintains that he did not leak the video.

During the interview, Erasmus touched on the decision to make Siya Kolisi the Springbok captain back in 2018 when he took over as the head coach.

In the 62-minute video that went viral after the second test, Erasmus said that Nic Berry and the other match officials were more willing to give British and Irish Lions captain Alun Wyn Jones an opportunity to speak to them during the first Test than they were with Kolisi.

'I knew from experience how they intimidate referees, so I asked that he must give Siya the same respect as Alun Wyn Jones, to which he agreed. People outside of South Africa might not understand this fully but having a black Springbok captain is a flammable situation in our country.' Erasmus said

'I lost a lot of friends when I made Siya captain. There was a lot of nastiness. Before the World Cup, my daughters' friends' parents would say, "Tell that f****** father of yours to stop sucking up for a pay cheque". People said it was political. The fight to get people to believe in Siya was a real struggle.'

'When I was water carrier during that first Test, I was close to the action and I could see that Siya was not getting heard. Those people who always questioned Siya came back out and said, 'See Rassie, you f***** this up, we were right all along'. 

'I'm not saying Nic Berry is racist. Absolutely not. 100 per cent. I actually think he is a cool guy. But when you are in a volatile country with 54 million black people and six million white people then you at least need a conversation. I didn't understand why Siya's messages weren't getting through: do they think he's an a**hole?