Sunday’s loss by the Springboks to Australia has direct bearing on the economy of Port Elizabeth – although the increased number of relatively fresh heads on Monday of those who ‘didn’t find an excuse to celebrate with copious amounts of alcohol’, may make up for that in productivity gains.
I, for one, in protest at the lack of decisive leadership or action from the Rugby World Cup authorities, will no longer be watching the Rugby World Cup and hope that advertisers will also feel the pain of the loss of ONE spectator – soon to be joined by many more I am sure!
The devastating blow to South Africa, who lost 11-9 to Australia on Sunday in a game refereed by Bryce Lawrence has resulted in loads of vitriol directed at the 40 year old, ex-school headmaster from Bay of Plenty in New Zealand.
Well if Bryce thought that to control 30 players on the field would be easier that controlling the same amount of teachers plus a thousand odd pupils, he was sorely mistaken. Not, only mistaken but he also forgot the billions of amateur ‘we know better’ referees that would be watching his every move like hawks – and with the benefit of replays, slow motion and reverse angles.
That Bryce continues to make glaring errors in refereeing is a LONG KNOWN fact – players, fans and coaches have always ‘politely’ picked Lawrence’s poor performance apart. Sunday’s appalling decisions (actually lack of any form of consistent decision making) were not a once off aberration but rather a continuation of baffling bumbling at the highest level of the game on a continuous basis.
Increasingly this year, Lawrence has drawn fire from many teams and nations – he certainly didn’t single the Springboks out for ‘special treatment’.
In addition to baffling decisions in the June 2011 Sharks Crusaders Super Rugby playoffs, Bryce Lawrence was also picked out for baffling decisions against Australia in their 15-6 crucial Rugby World Cup loss against Ireland at Eden Park on 17 September 2011.
But, the Wallabies refused to make any negative comments about Lawrence after the game and embarked on a charm offensive instead:
- “He is one of the best at scrum times, definitely,” prop Ben Alexander said.
- “That’s all you can ask for from a referee and in Durban we scrummed well and Bryce rewarded us.”
- “We have had Bryce plenty of times before and I have always found him pretty consistent at the scrum.”
However in the Australia South Africa game the Springboks dominated at scrum and in all facets of play.
Did the Wallabies know that being charming to Lawrence would gain them Brownie points going into the vital quarter final against the Springboks?
Serious questions also need to be asked about the assistant referees conduct during the Australia South Africa game – the only time that intervention occured from an assistant referee was to penalise a Springbok player.
The game is over, the history books will reflect a win for the Wallabies and in time we will forget the many reasons why the Springboks lost.
One has to conclude that Bryce Lawrence didn’t have it in for the Springboks but was just displaying his continued ineptitude and complete loss of ability to referee at this level of the game.
The time has come for Bryce Lawrence to shuffle off of the rugby field and hang his whistle up – there is a school somewhere needing a nincompoop.
Alan Straton
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Wow – this was Monday’s most read article on MyPE by a MILE. Thank You for taking the time.
Bryce Lawless… Did you know that his daddy, Keith Lawrence, is the head of the development office of referees at the IRB… ?? “Thanx for the freebie Daddy… now what must I do with this whistle thingy?”
Now there is one for the South Africans who believe that nepotism only happens locally. Pity Keith didn’t have a really wicked sense of humour by telling Bryce just where to shove that whistle!
Australias try was a result of Pocock coming into the preceding ruck from the side (right in front of Mr Lawremce) – should have been penalty number 1. Then Pocock lands up in a completely offside position in the South Africa side of the ruck – penalty number 2. Then Pocock uses his right foot to kick the ball out of the ruck – penalty number 3 – which leads to the try. There is no logic in the refs actions/non-actions other than deliberate cheating.
FLY EMIRATES CAN WE TRUST THEM, BRYCE ? WHAT DO WE HAVE TO DO BEFORE WE FLY EMIRATES TO ENSURE WE ARE SAFE AND WONT BE CHEATED? OR SHOULD WE LEAVE THAT TO THE IRB AS THE WONT TAKE ANY ACTION ANYWAY HOW DEEP IS THIS CONTROVERCY AND WHO IS ALL IN ON IT ? OH IS THAT A REAL FLY EMIRATES SHIRT YOU WEARING BRYCE ?
My mate Francois De Wet forwarded the piece below to me:
The Article that appeared in THE AUSTRALIAN!!
LIMITING THE POWER OF THE WHISTLE
There are no doubt a lot of Australian rugby
supporters celebrating our victory over the Springboks yesterday. There
are also a number of us that are wondering how on earth we managed to
pull it off against a side that dominated possession
and territory and lineouts. Now, I don’t want to take anything away
from the Australian victory – our boys did perform superbly but on the
day the Springboks were, we have to admit, the better side. The boks, as
always were magnanimous in defeat with a somewhat
pragmatic approach to the result. I wonder what our boys would have
said faced with the same situation of blatant incompetence by Mr Bryce
Lawrence.
I support Australia and always will but for those
of us that believe in fair play this was a hollow victory. This was very
much like fighting a worthy opponent with one arm strapped behind his
back – it leaves a bad taste. There were rumours
about Mr Lawrence’s impartiality before kick-off from a lot of ex pat
South Africans now living in Australia but we tend to dismiss these
conspiracy theories with a grin. Certainly, Mr Lawrence’s performance on
the field did nothing to dispel those theories.
His performance was nothing short of abysmal. He did not award the bok
try because of a dubious forward pass. I have looked and looked and to
me, anyway, it did not look forward. Minutes later when the boks once
again breached our defences and were well on
the way to scoring another try, he called them back for a forward pass.
If the first call was contentious, there certainly was nothing wrong
with the second one. Here, I must ask – why not use the “eye in the
sky”? An impressive expensive piece of equipment
that should be used for such decisions.
He failed to penalise Pocock for slowing the ball
down. If we had played like that against the All Blacks, they would not
have been so quiet about it. – and rightly so. In the dying minutes of
the game he was in full view of at least 2
high tackles by our boys that went unpunished. Any of these
transgressions, if properly acted on, would have surely given the game
to the Boks with their advantage over territory. To rub salt in the
South African wounds, he awarded a high tackle to the Wallabies
for a chest high tackle.
We won, but did we really? Our sport has always
been regarded as a “hooligans game played by gentlemen” – If we do not
want rugby union to degenerate into a farce that soccer can become we
need to make sure that our refs are of suitable
calibre. They need to be trustworthy gentlemen.
Mr Lawrence, I would advise against any planned holidays to South Africa for a couple of years.
Chris Davis
The Australian
You know that this is a fake, of course. There was no such article in The Australian.
Get over it, Bok supporters – your team wasn’t good enough – full stop.
And the Australians will not win the Cup. What goes around, comes around.
I have to wonder what game Mike Murray was watching, because it surely wasnt the aussie vs boks game if that is what he thought of the game, next time mate, try watching the game without having your head stuck up your own ass, btw i am an aussie and even i could tell that, that was not fair in any way
From The Australian Newspaper:
Sore loser
THERE has been excitement among
the “we wuz robbed” segment of the Springboks’ fan base about a piece
that supposedly appeared in this organ. The article by “Chris Davis, The
Australian” puts the boot into the referee of the South Africa v
Australia match with flourishes such as, “I support Australia and always
will but for those of us that believe in fair play this was a hollow
victory. This was very much like fighting a worthy opponent with one arm
strapped behind his back, it leaves a bad taste.” Not surprisingly, the
article has met with approval and has resulted in a steady flow of warm
correspondence to our sports section. Ever the diplomat, deputy sports
editor Simon McLoughlin has been breaking the news to them as gently as
he can: “You have all been duped by somebody who is clearly a little
upset at Sunday’s loss. I trust you can spread the word to your
aggrieved countrymen and start concentrating on the cricket or
something.”
go suck a duck man. you are as blind as bryce is. people like you should be shot and hung and have the word “idiot” branded onto your forehead for the world to see. i think if another ref was in charge of that game, Australia wouldn’t have even scored. Dare you to visit SA and make the same statement. i dont think you’d last 5 mins.
I would love to see a Psychometric analysis of the Rugby union referees. I know a few of them and my perception of them is that they are spineless, underhanded, showy, hypocritical, unscrupulous individuals with little regard for their fellow men. They are real believers in the “I will scratch your back if you will scratc mine” philosophy.
It gets worse – Keith Lawrence was famously caught out emailing is Aussie counterpart in the late ’90’s when he was head of NZ ref’s – suggesting the teach those “jappie bastards” a lesson! Were there’s smoke there’s fire folks! Head of IRB ref development, head of IRB refs Paddy O’Brien, head of SANZAR refs Lyndon Bray – what do they all have in common? They are all KIWIS!!! How is it possible that one nation has all the positions controlling such a crucial aspect of the game?
Whackhead pranks Bryce Lawrence