All Black flank Liam Messam has hit back at Springbok fans after a barrage of criticism in reaction to a tweet he posted.
Messam upset South Africans when he took to Twitter following the All Blacks’ controversial 29-15 Rugby Championship win over the Boks in Auckland last Saturday.
Sport24
French referee Romain Poite came under fire for a series of blunders in the match, which was marred by the sending off of Bok hooker Bismarck du Plessis.
Much to the ire of the Springboks’ fans, Poite showed Du Plessis a yellow card in the 16th minute of the Test for a perfectly legal tackle on All Black flyhalf Dan Carter.
Poite then showed Du Plessis a second yellow – and a subsequent red card – for leading with an elbow which connected with Messam’s throat.
Pundits described the second incident on Messam as “debatable at best” but there is no doubt that a wrong call was made in the first instance. However, Du Plessis received his marching orders which effectively ended the match as a contest.
Messam took to Twitter following after the match, hinting that next time he will perhaps go lower when Du Plessis is approaching.
“Thanks for the hate coming out of SA, it is what it is, Lesson learnt tackle low.”
This response from the All Black prompted more abuse on social media platforms, with Bok fans clearly not fond of his views.
Some of the comments clearly upset Messam, who again took to Twitter on Tuesday, asking rugby fans not to get too personal.
“Dear SA supporters I understand your frustrations and I agree that the big man was hard done by, he’s a awesome player and one of the best.
“I can take all the s+*| coming my way, but there’s no need to bring my son into this no need for that #haveagoodday,” Messam tweeted.
The Springboks and the All Blacks next meet at Ellis Park on October 5.