Springboks coach Peter de Villiers lashed out at the standard of rugby Test referees Saturday and suggested cheating may be the only way to beat diverse law interpretations.
His outburst came after the Springboks suffered a second successive hiding from the All Blacks, losing the second Tri-Nations Test 31-17 after being beaten the previous week 32-12.
All Blacks coach Graham Henry was full of praise for new law interpretations which allowed the team in possession to win quick ruck ball and play an expansive, running game. As a result they scored eight tries in the two Tests.
But de Villiers was clearly not happy with the way his side had been hammered in the two Tests which were controlled by northern hemisphere referees.
“I’m frustrated at the moment,” he said, denying his side had lost the form that won them the Tri-Nations championship last year and saw South African sides dominate the last two Super 14 competitions under southern hemisphere referees.
“We’ve played now six (Tests this year) and in six games we’ve had six different types of plays on the ground.
“We’ve got the same skills as last year when we won the Tri-Nations, we’re used to playing with the new interpretations in the Super 14 and now in the six games we’ve played the law was a bit different on the ground.”
De Villiers said he wanted a definitive answer from the powers who control the game on how to prepare for situations when the ball is on the ground.
“Because I don’t like to prepare guys to cheat and it seems to me that’s the only way going forward if you want to be on top of those kind of things and that’s 70 percent of your game.”
Springbok captain John Smit was more circumspect when questioned how he felt about All Blacks captain Richie McCaw escaping with repeated warnings but no yellow card for ruck infringements when the Springboks were on attack.
“I suppose if it had been my first year of playing against the All Blacks I’d be surprised, but it’s not my first year.”
But McCaw, often accused by visiting teams of getting lenient treatment from referees, defended Irish referee Alain Rolland.
“The ref allowed a good contest which was good and when we got under pressure I was guilty of giving away a couple of penalties,” he said.
“I guess when you’re under pressure like that you’ve got to try and get the decisions right and I thought the ref was pretty good.
“We knew where we stood. If you held your feet and got over the ball you got rewarded but if you got it wrong he was pretty hard on you. You’ve got to adjust as you go.”
Victorious All Blacks coach Graham Henry, in contrast to de Villiers, also praised the way referees are officiating the new interpretations.
“The new interpretation of the tackle law has changed the game a lot. It allows you to get continuity of possession and to build to score points and the guys did that exceptionally well,” he said.
“There were a couple of tries tonight that went through several phases and so it’s been a major influence on how the game’s being played now.”
All Blacks: Rolland is lucky charm
It’s little wonder Dublin mortgage broker Alain Rolland has been given the thumbs-up by both the All Blacks and Springboks to control tonight’s test.
The Irish referee has been involved in crowning moments of both teams in recent seasons, highlighted by the 2007 World Cup final in Paris, when South Africa suffocated England.
New Zealand have experienced few negative moments under Rolland, aside from last year, when they were outplayed by the Boks in Bloemfontein.
The team-ref relationship began in 2003 when the All Blacks steamrolled South Africa by a record 52-16 in Pretoria. A year later Rolland oversaw the 45-6 crushing of France in Paris.
Since then he controlled New Zealand’s 13-9 defeat of Australia at Brisbane in 2006 and the 32-6 hammering of England at Twickenham two years later, both described by Graham Henry as among their best performances.
The breakthrough 39-12 thrashing of France last November was also whistled by the former Ireland halfback, possibly prompting Henry’s bright assessment this week.
“Alain Rolland is the best referee in the world,” Henry said. “He’s got a real feel for the game and he’s a player’s referee; in other words they like playing under him because he’s got that feel.”
Pressure will be on the 43-year-old following comments this week from All Blacks assistant coach Wayne Smith, who called for test officials to improve fitness levels and keep up with the speed of the 2010 game.
The All Blacks conceded nine unanswered penalties during the middle stages of last weekend’s 32-12 defeat of South Africa in Auckland. Captain Richie McCaw felt Ireland’s Alan Lewis let the tacklers get away with more than during the Super 14 and hoped that would change tonight.
“If we hadn’t got to the advantage line as easy as we had it might have been an issue but I think the more referees can keep that tackler out the way the more it’s going to suit us,” he said.
“Hopefully as we go on, in the games that are a bit more even, the tackler does get made to get out of there.”
– NZPA
Sean Fitzpatrick said
Fielding the best team each week paying off
I was delighted to see the All Black team again contain the best players; the No 1 outfit.
I have talked about this many times in the past – the need to play the best team and develop combinations week in and week out and that is precisely what Henry, Steve Hansen and Wayne Smith are doing.
There were only two changes and we are seeing the team grow and develop their play together.
he also reckons –
This South African team looks tired to me. John Smit looks tired and Bryan Habana, Ricky Januarie and Jean de Villiers all seem off the pace.
Richard Loe on rugby
It was another good performance by the All Blacks. Not as good as last week’s but then it didn’t have to be.
The Boks still looked only half fired up to me and maybe the key point of the game was that silly yellow card to Danie Rossouw. It wasn’t a kick, it was a nudge, and the punches weren’t up to much either.
Rossouw didn’t deserve a yellow card but what he did was unnecessary and it put a real nail in the coffin of the Boks. They didn’t seem to have much spark after that, except for a few minutes either side of halftime and late in the match when it had already escaped them.
Richard Loe on rugby
The Boks look a bit sick to me. I spoke to some South Africans at the game and they were full of criticism about the wrong people being selected. They had been to the Boks training and said they were poor.
They felt selections such as Ricky Januarie instead of Ruan Pienaar and Jean de Villiers on the wing were wrong – and hinted there are too many old guys in the team now.
I missed this earlier on Rugby Heaven
Graham Henry has made a pre-emptive strike by labelling Irish referee Alain Rolland the best in the world.
Rolland will take control of tomorrow night’s Tri-Nations match between the All Blacks and South Africa to the backdrop of veiled criticism of countryman Alan Lewis’ performance in the competition opener at Eden Park.
Enough said by me now. At least i showed that i am not the only person who thought the Ref was poo. My mind was made up in the 2nd minute when he gave that yellow card. That showed he ran onto the field with preconceived ideas of the Springboks.(read Richard Loe’s comment too) From that moment it was clear to me we wont get a fair deal.
THE END
The ref did us no favours, however that does not disguise the fact that PDV is a fool.
Watch for some more disintegration in the weeks ahead, with the coach making a fool of himself instead of just shutting up.
It is very stupid of anybody to believe that with a better ref we would be more competitive againgst the All Blacks.
The reality is that unless your coaching team understand that you have to move the game forward significantly from season to season, then you get overtaken by better coaching brains.
That is what has happened to us now.
The real problem is that we dont have the coaching intelligence to move our game up and beyond where we are now.
This requires an excellent tactical and technical understanding as well as the ability to play the right players and still keep the team mentally on top.
There are many warning signs for us in what we have seen the last 2 week ends, however, none more than the fact that we have been simply out paced and out skilled.
The game is now being played at a pace and ball skill level that we are not up to speed with, and consider that watching yesterdays game on TV did not allow us to fully appreciate the ball retention and handling skills that the All Blacks showed in poor conditions.
Super, why this overwhelming need to ‘prove’ the unprovable i.e. that the ref ran onto the field with a anti-Bok bias and that that bias found expression in the first few minutes with Danie’s yellow? Unfortunately, all you may have proved with your own flood of posts following lasts week’s Bakkies episode and this weekend’s admittedly poor performance by Rolland is your own bias against any ref who dares to blow-up any Bok indiscretion. Ref’s do and will continue to make mistakes but so will the Boks. Sadly for us Boks supporters, the Boks seem to be making more than the refs at the moment. Can we agree on that at least?
I think that the Boks were plain shit in both games.
Smit is out of condition
Bakkies was yellowed and suspended
Matfield looks tired
Louw is out of his depth
Spies is Mr Nowhere [like usual in the tough games]
Januarie should not be in NZ.
Meisiekind should not be in NZ
JDV should not be in NZ as a wing
Otherwise the team is ok.
To blame the ref for the loss when the team is shit is not right.
Was the ref shit? Yes he was.
Would / should we have lost playing with a shit team? Yes!
The problems are easily resolved:
Put fatty on a diet or play Botha / Liebenberg
Well Bakkies is back in PTA, Danie did well
Stegman or Botes [only because Brussouw is injured]
Duane Vermeulen has a passport and can travel
Play Ruan
Play JDV at 12
Find a fukken wing
Get rid of Gold and Muir.
It is easy when you know how! 😆
@ Loosehead:9 – Loosehead…..hahahaha. You just about spot on there…. 😀 😀 BUT don’t play JdV at all. Why should he just walk straight back into the team? Nah no ways buddy, we have some class inside centres. Play De Jongh from the Stormers at inside centre. WO just never plays well for the Boks but somehow plays brilliant for the Bulls. We have some really good wings waiting at home too. Mvovo, G. Van der Heever and JPP all looking very good.
Pity Brussow is still injured. Stegmann should get a chance or Botes. Need a true out and out fetcher. We done great with Brussow last year.
@ Loosehead: Loosehead, Spot on with getting rid of Gold and Muir. What they are doing there is a mystery to me.
@ Puma:
Hi Puma. Look I know very little about backline play, but I do rate JDV at 12.
Whoever coached the Stormers defence in the S14 should be brought in to do the job for the Boks.
@ Loosehead:12 – Loosehead, I did rate JdV not now that he has come back from overseas. Though you can’t take class away, so maybe he needs some game time in the CC. For now he is looking very average. I would not hesitate and play Mvovo there. I know it is 14 but I would slot him in. Big strong and carries the ball well, good defence. Jeepers what the heck we waiting for??? Hope PdV has been watching some of the CC. Mvovo made all the difference too when he got a chance for the Sharks in the S14. We only played him so late in the tourney such a pity.
Oosthuizen still in the lead.
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