Springboks boss Rassie Erasmus appears to have hit out at the decision not to ban Tadhg Furlong after his alleged testicle grab on Gavin Coombes.

The Ireland star escaped sanction after he had been cited following Leinster’s clash with Munster last Saturday. It therefore means Furlong will be available for the Nations Championship which starts next weekend.

Erasmus’, and South Africa’s, frustrations come after Jan-Hendrik Wessels was suspended for nine weeks in October last year for the same offence on Connacht’s Josh Murphy.

That came despite the panel admitting there was a lack of clear video evidence, with the disciplinary committee effectively believing Murphy’s account over Wessels’, leading to him missing the 2025 end-of-year series.

Double standards accusation

The United Rugby Championship have therefore been accused of double standards and the Boks boss took to X, formerly Twitter, to seemingly vent his frustration at those decisions.

“Back to Boardrooms again. Its so sick! Tsek, Loop Kak! I am so proud being [South African]. I wonder if they proud. Wonder if they really sleep well. Tnight,” he wrote.

That message mirrored the cryptic post Erasmus wrote last year after Wessels had been suspended.

“It just got tougher!! We now have to beat them on the field, and in the boardrooms. Hamba man. Tsek. Loop Kak,” he wrote in October 2025.

This time, however, the South Africa head coach went a step further with a voice note on social media, which was captioned: “The saddest is everyone know this was going to happen.”

He appears to say in a mixture of Afrikaans and English: “Now I was thinking this morning. I was at a function the other night and they asked what drives you and what do you want to achieve?

“I said I love rugby. I’ve buggered up a lot of things but then you get better and then people start thinking what’s special now and what should we do now. Well think of the things that you aspire to be and want to try and do things, cause we all learn from our mistakes and just want to do the right things.

“The biggest thing is you must look at people you never ever want to be like, urgh I’m not going to mention them, I don’t like it.

“I think it’s a little bit of a open minded thing for all of us who want to get better and try to get better. They don’t try to get better those people, they’re false. They’re not good people. I don’t think they sleep well. Ok bye.”

The saddest is everyone know this was going to happen. 😉 https://t.co/WTB3056PEd

— Rassie Erasmus (@RassieRugby) October 30, 2026

Full judgement to be released

The full judgement will also make for interesting reading with the URC only releasing a relatively brief statement after Furlong was cleared.

“An Independent Disciplinary Committee met today, Thursday, October 29 to consider the Citing Complaint made against Tadhg Furlong of Leinster Rugby as a result of an incident that occurred during the fixture versus Munster Rugby on Saturday, October 24,” the statement read.

“The Citing Commissioner in charge made a complaint about an act of foul play by the Player (Tadhg Furlong No 3) against opponent Gavin Coombes (No 8).

“The Player was cited under Law 9.27– A player must not do anything that is against the spirit of good sportsmanship including but not limited to grabbing, twisting or squeezing the genitals.

“The Player appeared in front of the Independent Disciplinary Committee, comprising of Simon Thomas (Chair – Wales), Attie Heyns (South Africa) and Pamela Woodman (Scotland), via video conference.

“Having reviewed all of the evidence and considered the submissions in this case, the Independent Disciplinary Committee unanimously concluded that the citing complaint against the Player should be dismissed, on the basis that he did not commit an act of foul play contrary to Law 9.27.

“Notwithstanding the dismissal of the complaint, the Independent Disciplinary Committee found that Munster No 8, Mr Gavin Coombes, had given an honest account of his recollection of events surrounding the incident, and that the Citing Complaint was properly brought before the Independent Disciplinary Committee for determination.”

Furlong, who has been named in the Ireland squad, will now be available for their November games and it adds a bit of spice to the clash with the Springboks on November 21.