Wayne Barnes has revealed he considered walking away from refereeing after his wife and children were subjected to online threats following South Africa's loss to France in November.
Barnes took charge of his 100th Test match as France overcame the Springboks in Marseille but the game was quickly overshadowed by the actions of Rassie Erasmus, the South Africa director of rugby, post-match. Erasmus posted a series of video clips on Twitter that appeared to highlight decisions by Barnes that went against South Africa.
He would later receive a suspension from World Rugby. However, Barnes and his family became the target of online abuse - with the referee even reporting two perpetrators to the police. Speaking publicly about the abuse for the first time with The Good, The Bad and The Rugby podcast, Barnes said that his wife, Polly, was threatened with “sexual violence”.
