Scotland coach Townsend also accuses Rassie of 'character assassination' after wing comment

• Scotland coach Gregor Townsend has also accused Rassie Erasmus of "character assassination" after a sideline gaffe where he tells Willie le Roux that one of the Scottish wingers is poor under the high ball. 
• He also believes that World Rugby's response took too long and that intimidation is becoming more endemic in the game.
• Townsend, who was part of the British & Irish Lions coaching staff, said he talked to referee Nic Berry during the tour to SA and noticed he was having a "tough time".

Scotland coach Gregor Townsend has become the latest person to accuse Rassie Erasmus of "character assassination" following his ultimately final stint as the Springboks' "water-boy" in last week's Test at Murrayfield.

The former international flyhalf was referring to a clip from a SuperSport analysis show, where former national consultant and Lions coach Swys de Bruin playfully pointed out how South Africa's director of rugby instructs fullback Willie le Roux to target an unnamed Scottish winger with high balls.

Erasmus is very clearly seen telling Le Roux that the wing in question is "k*k" in that facet of the game.

"I wasn't really aware of it at the time, but someone showed me a video of him making comments about one of our players, a character assassination or sledging or whatever," said Townsend.

"That's not the role of coaches; it’s not the role of anybody on the sidelines to be doing that."

One of the cornerstones of World Rugby's motivation for the length Erasmus' suspension was referee Nic Berry's assertion that his infamous 62-minute video during the Lions series was an "attack on my integrity".  

Townsend also intimated that it wasn't the only incident of this nature during the Boks' 30-15 victory, bemoaning an increase in alleged intimidation in the world game.

"If we want our sport to go down a different route then we allow these things to happen. That was really disappointing to see, and I know it wasn’t the only incident over the weekend, over that game."

Townsend, who was an assistant coach for the British & Irish Lions on their tour to South Africa earlier this year, expressed hope that World Rugby's sanctioning of Erasmus - who's been suspended from all rugby-related activities for two months and all match-day involvement for 10 months - will create a groundbreaking precedent.

"We got to the decision that was announced yesterday, but for me this is the tip of the iceberg. It was four months too late," he said.

"We’ve seen a lot of incidents where people on the sidelines are trying to intimidate players and officials. Going onto the field of play as well to either coach their team or intimidate officials on the field. It’s got to stop."I would urge World Rugby to make further changes. Why do we need coaches on the sidelines? If they are on the sidelines they have to live up to certain behaviours and values that we pride in our game, which sadly I felt over the summer and since then have been lost."

While the whole saga is close to being put to bed - Sport24 earlier reported that Erasmus and SA Rugby's appeal is unlikely to succeed - Townsend still believes it tarnished the game.

"I think that was a real bad episode for our game," he said.

"I was there at the time, so I experienced what was going on, and I later spoke to Nic Berry about it and he went through a real tough time, and so did his family. That was a real shame and a pity that these things can happen in our sport. I don’t think it could have been allowed to continue."Those antics … we can’t fall into that trap of winning at all costs and putting pressure on individuals."It has been a while for that decision to come. That would be my only frustration, that it has taken so long to come to this decision."