Rassie Erasmus was overlooked for the World Rugby Coach of the Year award.

The Springboks head coach was arguably the favourite to take the honour after guiding his side to their first Rugby Championship title since 2019.

They also won 11 of their 13 matches in 2024 and Erasmus did that while rotating the squad heavily, with 50 players used during the Test campaign.

Robbing decision is Olympic title over all rassie achievement

However, France sevens coach Jérôme Daret was instead chosen after guiding his nation to the Olympic title in July.

The French also won their first SVNS Series title in 19 years when they triumphed in Los Angeles, but many felt that those achievements paled in comparison the Springboks legend.

“Rassie Erasmus not named Coach of the Year. I guess building a 51-man squad with essentially 3 teams in it, 5 trophies, top rank in the world and consistent innovation wasn’t enough,” Brandon Portnoy wrote on X, formerly Twitter.

It is fair to say that World Rugby and Erasmus have had a fraught relationship after the South Africa head coach was banned twice for criticising match officials.

His hour-long video attacking Nic Berry after the first Test of the 2021 British and Irish Lions series was particularly unsavoury and led to a two-month suspension.

More recently, the Boks boss appears to have taken steps to repair that relationship, hiring former Test referee Jaco Peyper to his backroom team.

Peyper is there to guide the team on the laws of the game and to help keep their on-field discipline in check, but he could also feasibly act as a bridge between South Africa and the match officials.

However, some believe that the governing body have not forgiven Erasmus and that his rants have played a part in the panel’s decision, that is ridiculous.

“My word, World Rugby can hold a grudge … Rassie not named COTY is probably the most ridiculous thing I have seen in rugby this year, and my oath, there have been some ridiculous things in rugby this year!!!” Front Row Grunt wrote.

Meanwhile, Alex Goldberg added: “Rassie has won two World Cups back to back, Lions Tour, Champions Cup, 3 from 3 Autumn Tour, #1 Ranked Team in the World & could field another that would top the rankings, but still gets nothing from @WorldRugby. It’s criminal. It’s more than personal, it’s a vendetta with them.”

No nominees

Between 2001 – the advent of the award – and 2014, when World Rugby was called the International Rugby Board, they tended not to announce any nominees for coach of the year. However, that changed in 2015 and has remained the case until this year.