Warren Gatland has revealed he hasn't spoken properly to Rassie Erasmus for three years as he detailed the truth behind their bust-up on the Lions tour.
The South African Director of Rugby was banned from rugby activities for two months and told to stay away from match-day involvement until this September after his outburst at referee Nic Berry during the Lions' opening Test victory over the world champions last summer.
Ahead of Wales' second Test showdown with the Springboks, Gatland used a newspaper column to outline his fallout with the South African boss.
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"It is disappointing because before the tour, I thought I had a pretty good relationship with Rassie," Gatland wrote in the Telegraph. "Wales played against South Africa in his first game in charge, in Washington, in June 2018 and we went out for a beer together afterwards.
"And when they beat us in the World Cup semi-final in November 2019, I went into their changing room and congratulated him and his players on their win and wished them the best for the final.
"That was the last proper communication I have had with him since."
Gatland insists Erasmus' blast at Berry, after an infamous 60-minute video of him criticising the referee's decisions was leaked, had an impact on the remaining Tests that the Lions lost. He was also critical of Erasmus running on the pitch with water bottles to speak to the Boks players.
"In my mind, after we won the first Test, he became so desperate to win the series that it felt like they were prepared to do anything to achieve that, and the next thing was that the video was supposedly leaked," says Gatland.
"I felt so sorry for Nic. He is a good young referee. I had a chat with him at the end of the tour and he was devastated by the allegations, and I have no doubt in my mind that the video had an influence on the officiating in the remainder of the series."
There was a further row when the Springboks had a warm-up game with Georgia called off because of Covid and Erasmus wanted the Lions to play another game against South Africa A, instead of the Stormers, to give his Test players badly needed match time.
"But I felt strongly that it was important to stick to the schedule," says Gatland today. "Rassie’s response during a Zoom call was to say that his players would walk out of camp and the tour would be off. It was important for the Lions to hold their nerve and I dismissed the threat."
Under Gatland Wales had a decent record against the Springboks, beating them five times, but only after he was forced to change the mindset within the dressing room.
Gatland's first match in charge, a 2008 Six Nations win over England at Twickenham, came after a Wales team coached temporarily by Nigel Davies had lost 34-12 to the newly-crowned world champions in Cardiff back in the autumn of 2007.
"The story that was told to me afterwards was that everyone had gone into the changing room afterwards and patted each other on the backs because of how close the game was," says Gatland. "I knew then that expectation levels and the mental robustness of the players would have to change dramatically."
He says standing up to the Springboks "mentally is equally as important as not taking a backward step on the pitch" for Wales in Bloemfontein this weekend as they seek to bounce back from their last-gasp defeat in the first Test.
"What we learned was that to have any chance against the Springboks, you must attempt to not just match them physically, but also be tactically smart and show no sign of mental weakness."
To that end, Gatland says he enjoyed watching Dan Biggar lead by example with a combative showing as Wales came within a whisker of a first victory in history on South African soil.
However, Gatland also revealed the words of wisdom he gave to playmaker Biggar, no shrinking violet when it comes to speaking to referees, which have perhaps become even more important since he was named captain.
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"I love his passion and that he cares so much and is so desperate to win, but I would say to him that it was also important to send out a message to the other players in the team that he was in charge and in control and thinking about the next play. I said that sometimes players do not want to see him carry on when they have already moved on," explained Gatland in the column.
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