Rassie Erasmus laughs off 'world's most arrogant man' criticism from Irish pundit

Whether it is for the right or wrong reasons, Erasmus is a popular figure on the social media platform and went viral once again this week.

The polarising director of rugby was the subject of ridicule by Off the Ball commentator and MD, Ger Gilroy, who mocked Erasmus for his comments about being more comfortable in the Boks' situation rather than Ireland's.

Ireland need just one league point, a losing or try bonus point, in their final pool game against Scotland to progress to the tournament's knockout stages, while the defending champions, South Africa, have a bye this week.

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"I wouldn't like to be in Ireland's position, Erasmus," Gilroy said during the paper review section of the show.

"Oh, wouldn't you, Rassie? You wouldn't want to be in our position, I wouldn't want to be in your position either, but that's OK. How's the braai?

"With full humbleness, well, you can just discount anything after anything that comes after that, he says in a press conference with a straight face.

"Rassie Erasmus goes with full humbleness - a man noted for his humility - with full humbleness, and there's no arrogance saying this - I do think in fairness to him, he knows exactly what he's doing, like I realise I come across the world most arrogant man but I'm saying I've parked my arrogance right.

"I'd rather sit here than be Ireland, knowing that we've been number one in the world all the time and Scotland basically just have to beat them by eight points, and they're out of the tournament.

"Like you could have just beaten us by eight points if you wanted to and denied us a losing bonus point and made us all, like, very, very worried about what the future holds. But you couldn't do it as you could you?"

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Gilroy then went on to mock Erasmus in a squeaky voice, saying: " Ohh no, I've gotta show the world my giant Rugby brain."

Erasmus clipped off Gilroy's mockery at the end and reposted it in reply.

His post read, "This man is so funny, how does he do that voice ? Top entertainment", with a clown emoji at the end.

Erasmus' response has garnered over 1 million views on X, with pundits and fans finding Gilroy's comments cringy.

"Behind a paywall, say what you like. This is embarrassing, gutter level guff," one response read.

Another added, "Insufferable. Absolutely insufferable."

South African journalist Brenden Nel was damning in his response.

"We all enjoy a bit of banter, and you don't have to like Rassie if you don't want to. But this crosses a line into that cringeworthy 'lets be idiots for the sake of being idiots'. I know the majority of Ireland supporters aren't like this. They have a lot more class. Sigh," his post read.

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