Rassie recalls Kolisi captaincy decision: 'I lost a lot of friends when I made Siya captain'

In a wide-ranging interview with the Daily Mail, Erasmus delved into last year’s British & Irish Lions series against the Springboks.

READ | Rassie stresses he didn't leak refereeing video during Lions series: 'I'm not this monster'

A major talking point from the series was when a video of Erasmus criticising the officiating was leaked to the media.

The 62-minute video, in which Erasmus highlights numerous refereeing errors following South Africa’s 22-17 loss in the series opener on 24 July, 2021, was leaked onto social media the following week and went viral.

Erasmus was later charged by World Rugby and banned from attending any matches for a year for his public criticism.

Part of Erasmus' complaints were that Australian referee Nic Berry and the other match officials were affording Lions captain Alun Wyn Jones more opportunity to speak than Kolisi.

In the Daily Mail interview, Erasmus also recalled "nasty" moments when he made Kolisi national captain back in 2018.

Warren Whiteley was the Bok captain at the time but his injured paved the way for a new Bok captain.

"Before the first Test I had a meeting with the match officials,” Erasmus said. “I explained to the referee that the Springboks had not played for two years since the World Cup and our captain Siya Kolisi would be up against a team with four international captains.

"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.

"I lost a lot of friends when I made Siya captain. There was a lot of nastiness. Before the World Cup, my daughters’ friends’