Ask any Shark supporter what they think of the refereeing system used by SANZAR in this years Super 14 competition and you might hear many words not suitable for a family Rugby blog site.
The decisions made by the officials in the game between the Waratahs and the Sharks is to put it mildly is horrific, shocking to say the least. John Smit summed up the situation well by saying, “We can cry about spilt milk all day but that’s what happens when you play away from home and I said earlier in the post-match interview, you lose three in a row and referees when they have to think twice they’ll probably go (against) the team that’s lost three in a row,”
John Plumtree was left raging after his side had an appeal for a match-winning penalty try turned down on Saturday in Sydney.
With a minute to go on the clock Kurtley Beale’s bat-down of Stefan Terblanche’s scoring pass to Ryan Kankowski was rewarded with a penalty and a yellow card, but no penalty try.
Terblanche screamed for a penalty try as referee Paul Marks awarded the penalty, but nothing came, infuriating the visitors.
“That was a cynical decision right at the end there and that should have been a penalty try,” Plumtree growled after the game, his side’s fourth defeat of the season.
“That was Ryan Kankowski who runs quicker than a winger and he would have skated in there and that was the game.”
Other decisions – including a line-out obstruction call in the final seconds – had the Sharks complaining further after a game they had the better of but just could not find the killer score in.
“So the rub of the green didn’t go our way but we had opportunities and we did enough to win the game and the scoreboard doesn’t say it.”
“It’d be a lot easier to look for blame. I’m sure we’ll get some kind of feedback on some really big decisions that didn’t help our cause tonight, but if we keep looking at those for answers we probably won’t go forward as a team.”
Let us wait and see what the referee bosses say about this. There are a few answers due.
This was said earlier on a Australian website:- G&GR
In the Super 14 next year the nationality of refs will no longer matter when it comes to allocating them to matches. Instead, it’ll come down to ‘merit’. Apparently they used 19 refs last year, this time they’ll concentrate it down to the 9 ‘merit’ refs (below), and fill gaps based on form and absence due to Six Nations duties.
Acting SANZAR Referee Manager Lyndon Bray announced a core team of eight Super Rugby referees, and a reserve panel of nine referees who will have the chance to officiate at Super Rugby level as required.
All eight referees in the core ‘merit’ panel have extensive experience at Super Rugby and international level. This team of lead referees includes four international referees from South Africa, three from New Zealand and one from Australia.
“We are very fortunate to have such a strong team of internationally experienced referees – they set a very high standard of performance across all three SANZAR nations,” Bray said.
The selections see a return to Super Rugby for former New Zealand and international referee Steve Walsh after a one-year absence. Walsh, who now referees in Australia, will start in the reserve panel alongside Air New Zealand Cup referees Vinny Munro (New Zealand) and Nathan Pearce (Australia), and six other SANZAR referees.
“It’s great to have this high calibre of referees in the reserve crew and we fully expect that they will be promoted quickly into the senior group of starting referees for Super Rugby. Steve Walsh is an experienced international referee and we welcome his experience into the camp. Several referees in the reserve panel, whom have previously refereed Super 14 matches, will have the opportunity to seek promotion to the merit panel, subject to form,” Bray said.
The Super Rugby referees and reserves have been selected for the first time under a new SANZAR selection process. The new SANZAR Referee Selectors – Colin Hawke (New Zealand), Andrew Cole (Australia) and Tappe Henning (South Africa) – will closely monitor referee performances as part of a promotion/relegation system.
“This performance-based system ensures we are open, transparent and accountable as match officials,” Bray said.
An unusually large number of reserve referees had been named in anticipation that some of them would be promoted quickly into the core group.
“We are also looking ahead to developing our depth in international referees, so some of our selections reflect the confidence we have in supporting upcoming talent from Australia, New Zealand and South Africa,” Bray said.
“We will be staying true to the goal of at least eighty per cent of the matches being refereed by our top officials,” he said.
The referees selected for 2010 Super Rugby match official duty:
South Africa
Merit Panel:
Jonathan Kaplan
Craig Joubert
Mark Lawrence
Marius Jonker
Reserve Panel:
Jaco Peyper
Pro Legoete
New Zealand
Merit Panel:
Bryce Lawrence
Chris Pollock
Keith Brown
Reserve Panel:
Steve Walsh
Vinny Munro
Garratt Williamson
Jonathon White
Australia
Merit Panel:
Stuart Dickinson
Reserve Panel:
Nathan Pearce
Paul Marks
Ian Smith
John Bishop
Durban – Hometown referee Paul Marks, showing impeccable timing and a flagrant disregard of the laws, easily took the man-of-the-match award as he nursed the Waratahs through a tricky final 10 minutes on their way to a 25-21 Super 14 win over the Sharks in Sydney on Saturday.
When one-eyed Australian commentators openly concede that mistakes are being made by their referee in favour of their team, then it is clear that something is rotten in the state of New South Wales.
The influential Marks had a busy evening, yellow-carding prop Jannie du Plessis for a silly trip and flyhalf Andy Goode for hanging off-side at a ruck and reducing the Sharks to 13 men for eight minutes in the first half. But he saved his best for last with three highly contentious anti-Sharks decisions in the closing 10 minutes which settled the match.
The first came after he generously allowed a series of Waratahs forward passes but then moments later pulled back the Sharks, for a marginal infringement, as they sped through for a try.
The second, minutes from the final whistle, came when Waraths’ replacement back Kurtley Beale slapped down Stefan Terblanche’s pass to an unmarked Ryan Kankowski 20 metres from the line. Marks yellow-carded Beale but then defied logic, and the lawbook, in not awarding a penalty try.
But Marks was not finished. The Sharks, from the penalty, kicked for an attacking lineout five metres from the Waratahs line. They immediately set up the drive but Marks blew prop Jannie du Plessis for obstruction.
“It was a very odd call,” captain John Smit told reporters. “Jannie was supporting the jumper as he does at every lineout. If he was penalised at that lineout, he should have been blown for all the lineouts on our throw.”
from The Witness
Hope this does not turn ugly. Imagine it was a Aussie ref, falling down, rolling in pain , leaving the field dazed, injured. I can see a Oscar performance in my mind.
Lawrence told Sport24 through SARU communications chief Andy Colquhoun that there was nothing in the incident.
“As far as I’m concerned it was nothing. If you stick your hand between players you will get bumped from time to time. I’ve had a lot worse,” said Lawrence.
“Had Schalk wanted to slap me, I would not have ended the game as I would have been in hospital! If I felt it was an issue, I would have acted immediately,” he added.
Colquhoun said that SARU referees boss André Watson would study the incident and then decide whether there would be any action taken.
*****“We can cry about spilt milk all day but that’s what happens when you play away from home and I said earlier in the post-match interview, you lose three in a row and referees when they have to think twice they’ll probably go (against) the team that’s lost three in a row,”*****
That is exactly what happened with the Cheetahs last year. But they should never have been in a situation where they needed a 50/50 call to go their way to win the game.
Disclaimer: I am not saying the Sharks call was a 50/50 call. I am discussing calls in general.
wooohoooo moet net so bietjie brag!!!!
Weekend Results :
Weekend Winner : Tripples with 180 pts.
Wooden Spoon : Rugby_Princess by only racking up 93 pts!
Biggest Climber : Tripples, climbing 11 positions!
Biggest Faller : Irish Devil, falling -9 positions!
Avg Points : 136.15 pts.
EEE@5 – and you actually find that funny! 😆
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