Former referee Nigel Owens on Rassie's social media antics: 'He should have learned his lesson by now'

Respected former Welsh referee Nigel Owens has given his view on social media posts by Springbok director of rugby Rassie Erasmus following South Africa's 30-26 loss to France on Saturday.  

For the past few days, Erasmus has taken to Twitter with an array of posts highlighting various indiscretions by the opposition that went unpunished.  

READ | Rassie denies targeting referees, insists tweets are engagement: 'I don't control narrative'

Speaking at a media conference in Genoa today when the Springbok team was announced, Erasmus was adamant that he wasn't having a go at referees. 

"It's not about having a go at the referees. If I was having a go at the referee, well, I don't think Wayne Barnes would make all those [perceived] bad decisions. He's No 1 in the world and has 100 Tests under the belt," said Erasmus. 

"It's obviously something on our side we need to fix. I just want supporters to understand that. If people put a narrative to that, I can't control it." 

Owens, speaking on The Telegraph's "Rugby Podcast", had a different viewpoint and said that following his ban last year for pointing out refereeing errors in the first Test against the British and Irish Lions, Erasmus should have learned his lesson.  

"I saw these [tweets] come up, and I was thinking ', is this his genuine profile? Is he doing this?'" said Owens. 

"To me, we don't need that in the game, and I'd have thought he'd have learned his lesson by now if it is him doing this. There's a procedure in place. 

"If you're not happy about decisions, or you have questions about decisions – as every coach would have – referees can't get everything right. There is a process to go through. 

"You send your timeline to the referee manager, which would be Joel Jutge at World