The Lions and Vodacom Bulls flew the South African flag in Vodacom Super Rugby this weekend when they scored come-from-behind home victories on Saturday.
The side from Johannesburg scored two late tries to deny the Reds by 23-20 after they were still behind by 20-3 shortly before the break at Ellis Park.
In the process, Lions flyhalf and kicking ace Marnitz Boshoff became the first player this season to reach 100 points when he kicked his second penalty goal in the 40th minute of the match.
In the final match of the weekend, the Cell C Sharks lost their first encounter of 2014 when they went down 23-19 to a determined Vodacom Bulls side at Loftus Versfeld.
The home team outscored their visitors from Durban by two tries to one in a typically tough South African derby, where room to move was kept to a minimum through good defence, which also forced both sides to make too many mistakes.
Earlier on Saturday, the Toyota Cheetahs came unstuck against the Blues in Auckland (40-30), while the DHL Stormers played well but not well enough as they lost by 25-15 to the Brumbies in Canberra.
In probably the upset of round six, the only other unbeaten side in the competition, the defending champion Chiefs, lost by 18-15 to the Force in Perth.
Blues (30) 40 / 30 (16) Toyota Cheetahs:
For the first time since 2009, the Toyota Cheetahs will return from their Australasian Vodacom Super Rugby tour after losing all four matches and not scoring one log point in the process.
The team from Central South Africa paid the price for making too many unforced errors at Eden Park in Auckland on Saturday morning when they were beaten by 40-30 by the Blues.
The Toyota Cheetahs put up a brave display after last weekend’s big defeat in Wellington. With 20 minutes gone, the scores were tied at 13-13 following Boom Prinsloo’s converted try.
But a few minutes later Prinsloo was sent to the sin bin for a professional foul and the tide turned in the Aucklanders’ favour. With the Toyota Cheetahs one player short, the Blues scored two converted tries before the break.
Despite making too many errors and defensive lapses, the visitors never gave up though – Cornal Hendrics and Hennie Daniller scored second half tries, but in the end the gap the Blues had opened up was simply too big for the Toyota Cheetahs to close.
The only small consolation was that their 30 points was the most the Toyota Cheetahs have ever scored against the Blues in New Zealand.
Scorers:
Blues:
- Tries: Steven Luatua (1), George Moala (1), Tevita Li (1), Tony Woodcock (1)
- Conversions: Simon Hickey (4)
- Penalty goals: Simon Hickey (4)
Toyota Cheetahs:
- Tries: Boom Prinsloo (1), Cornal Hendricks (1), Hennie Daniller (1)
- Conversions: Johan Goosen (1), Elgar Watts (2)
- Penalty goals: Johan Goosen (2), Watts (1)
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mcUsd0zxcgc[/youtube]
Brumbies (13) 25 / 15 (10) DHL Stormers:
The DHL Stormers were largely undone for a second time in three weeks by themselves as they were beaten by 25-15 by the Brumbies at GIO Stadium in Canberra on Saturday morning.
It was the first time since the DHL Stormers has lost to the Brumbies, runners up in 2013, but it was a game that was there for the taking for the Capetonians.
Individual errors and poor decision-making at key moments, as well as bad kicking – tactical and at goal – let the visitors down badly. They looked good at times, but struggled to get out of their own half and kept on making silly mistakes which gifted the Brumbies points.
This lack of composure also cost the DHL Stormers dearly a fortnight ago when they lost by one point to the Crusaders in Christchurch, as well as last weekend in Hamilton when the Chiefs scored two late tries to put some daylight between them and the Capetonians on the scoreboard.
Duane Vermeulen scored a great try from a rolling maul as the DHL Stormers looked to have the upper hand upfront. Later in the Juan de Jongh added much-needed spark off the bench and was also rewarded with a good try.
But a last-minute penalty try for a scrum infringement on their own goal-line meant the DHL Stormers missed out on a losing bonus point as they suffered a third successive tour defeat.
Scorers:
Brumbies:
- Tries: Robbie Coleman (2), Penalty Try (1)
- Conversions: Nic White (2)
- Penalty goals: Nic White (2)
DHL Stormers:
- Tries: Duane Vermeulen (1), Juan de Jongh (1)
- Conversion: Peter Grant (1)
- Penalty goals: Peter Grant (1)
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jgdEclsydjc[/youtube]
Lions (6) 23 / 20 (20) Reds:
The Lions scored 17 unanswered points in the second half of their Vodacom Super Rugby clash against the Reds at Ellis Park in Johannesburg on Saturday to win this match by 23-20.
It was a rather scrappy match, but the Lions won’t mind after they staged one of the finest fightbacks of recent times. The home team’s performance in the first half wasn’t great and the Reds, through flyhalf Quade Cooper, who scored all their points, pounced when they got the chance.
The men from Gauteng were behind by 20-3 shortly before the break, when Marnitz Boshoff slotted his second penalty goal to make the score at half-time 20-6 as the Lions flyhalf became the first player to reach 100 season points.
The home team controlled possession for most of the second half as they started finding their groove. Boshoff added another penalty goal before Lionel Mapoe’s converted try in the 65th minute made it a four-point game.
Courtnall Skosan scored what turned out to be the match-winner in the 77th minute after a period of sustained Lions pressure during which two Reds players were sin-binned for professional fouls.
But the visitors didn’t give up and the Lions’ defence was properly tested in the dying moments. They held out though and won their third straight home game of the season – a feat they last achieved in 2007.
Scorers:
Lions:
- Tries: Lionel Mapoe (1), Courtnall Skosan (1)
- Conversions: Marnitz Boshoff (2)
- Penalty goals: Marnitz Boshoff (3)
Reds:
- Tries: Quade Cooper (2)
- Conversions: Quade Cooper (2)
- Penalty goals: Quade Cooper (2)
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AXqyCSEO0D8[/youtube]
Vodacom Bulls (6) 23 / 19 (13) Cell C Sharks:
The Vodacom Bulls’ home resurgence continued at Loftus Versfeld in Pretoria where they were too good for a disrupted Cell C Sharks in the final Vodacom Super Rugby match of the weekend.
The home team won 23-19 after erasing a 13-6 deficit at half-time with two second half tries to win their third successive home game of the season. It was also the KwaZulu-Natalians’ first defeat of 2014, but they remain at the top of the log.
The Cell C Sharks lost both their halfbacks, Cobus Reinach and Pat Lambie, to injuries within the first 15 minutes, which upset their rhythm, but they remained composed, with a superb scrum performance putting the Vodacom Bulls under pressure upfront.
Willem Alberts exploited some defensive errors by the home team for the visitors’ first and only try in the first half.
The Vodacom Bulls started the second half very strong though and when Jacques du Plessis burst through weak tackles from the Cell C Sharks to score from 30m out in the 48th minute, the contest was on at 13-all.
JJ Engelbrecht’s try saw the Vodacom Bulls take the lead five minutes later, at which stage the home team hit their attacking straps. But Frans Steyn, who was named Man of the Match, kept the visitors in the hunt with superb goal kicking.
A 79th minute penalty goal by Handré Pollard though put the Vodacom Bulls ahead by four points and that is how it ended in Pretoria in JP Pietersen’s 100th Vodacom Super Rugby match.
Scorers:
Vodacom Bulls:
- Tries: JJ Engelbrecht (1), Jacques du Plessis (1)
- Conversions: Jacques-Louis Potgieter (2)
- Penalty goals: Jacques-Louis Potgieter (1), Handré Pollard (1)
- Drop goal: Jacques-Louis Potgieter (1)
Cell C Sharks:
- Try: Willem Alberts (1)
- Conversion: Tim Swiel (1)
- Penalty goals: Frans Steyn (4)
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qtTzAfagwdQ[/youtube]
Other results – Round 6:
Highlanders 35 / 31 Hurricanes (Dunedin)
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OtjpDhZRTuw[/youtube]
Waratahs 32 / 8 Rebels (Sydney)
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PU9kFI1okYk[/youtube]
Force 18 / 15 Chiefs (Perth)
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PBiu_meH9T0[/youtube]
The Bulls / Sharks video is not a Highlights video, but the whole game.
Will try to Cut and Edit it into a Highlights package for you!
If the penalty count is 19-4 in your favour and you don’t score 4 tries it means you played poor rugby.
The Bulls playing the Chiefs at 3pm on Saturday… 3pm at loftus is about as favourable as it gets at Loftus, the Bullies hate the dark.
1: GBS, skitterende diens !
Supersport se highlights is baie onvolledig, hulle wys byvoorbeeld net die einde van ‘n drie en nie die oploop tot die drie nie. So sal graag hoogtepunte wil sien wat ten minste die hele beweging tot ‘n drie wys.
Berry must have some serious mafia contacts, how the hell they can keep him on doesn’t make sense.
Francisco Pastrana © Gallo Images
Super Rugby Fantasy and Prediction games
The rugby week in pictures
‘Stand up, applaud, give Jake a bells…’ – Brenden Nel
Sanzar reshuffles referee appointments
24 March 2014, 09:52
Referees Francisco Pastrana, James Leckie and Lorens Van der Merwe have all paid the price for poor performances in Super Rugby and were stood down by governing body Sanzar on Monday.
Argentine Pastrana in particular was heavily criticised over the weekend and Sanzar referees head Lyndon Bray wasted little time in following through on his threat from last week.
Bray had said he would be conducting a purge of referees by the end of March in order to hold match officials more accountable for their performances.
“One of our core strategic objectives is to grow the depth of the team that is able to referee ‘any game, any time,'” Bray said in a Sanzar statement.
“In line with this, we have reduced the size of the team heading into the next phase of the competition and in doing so, have recognised who has performed to expectation and who has not.
“The aim is to give this smaller pool of referees more game time so when it comes to the finals series, there’s a great deal of pressure around who will earn those highly sought after appointments and … that the competition is getting a consistent high standard of refereeing.”
It is the second successive week that Bray has had to face questions about referees after a series of controversies and blunders in the early stages of the competition.
Last week he posted several video clips of contentious decisions on the organisation’s website, explained the rationale behind some of the decisions, and then determined whether they were correct.
Pastrana paid the price for his handling of the Blues’ 40-30 victory over South Africa’s Cheetahs at Eden Park, where the home team scored 17 unanswered points after flanker Boom Prinsloo was dubiously given a yellow card.
The Argentine also seemed to ignore his television match official’s advice in awarding a contentious try to George Moala when Prinsloo was off the field.
The television official had said Moala made a double move in scoring, but the Argentine seemed to misunderstand the advice and awarded the Blues the try.
Pastrana has been replaced by Nick Briant, who will now referee Friday’s game between Canterbury Crusaders and Wellington Hurricanes in Christchurch.
South African referee Stuart Berry, however, has escaped being dropped from the now 15-strong panel despite being heavily criticised by visiting coaches for his performances involving South Africa’s Lions.
He controversially awarded a try to the Lions in their 39-36 victory over the Auckland Blues last week, a decision that Bray later said had been incorrect.
The Queensland Reds were also incensed at some of Berry’s decisions in their 23-20 loss to the Lions in Johannesburg on Saturday, when the home side came back from 20-3 down to win.
Berry issued two yellow cards to Reds players and had a 16-4 penalty count in favour of the Lions.
“I’ve never seen that in a game before in my life,” Reds coach Richard Graham told Australian media on Sunday of the penalty count.
“It would be fair to say that I felt aggrieved at the end of the match when we were down to six forwards and a back on the scrum and we’re going forward and (the Lions front row) stand up and we’re not rewarded.”
By Gavin Rich
Berry was SA’s Bryce Lawrence
by Gavin Rich 24/03/2014, 06:53
This past Saturday night was one of those occasions where it was hard to suppress anger and emotion in the writing of a match report.
As a South African I was so embarrassed by Stuart Berry’s performance with the whistle in the Lions/Reds game that it was tempting to go completely over the top and suggest the poor guy be fired and made to referee club rugby for the rest of the year.
Not that such a suggestion would be so out of line. To me Berry was every bit as abysmal as Bryce Lawrence was on the night of the Wellington freak show at the last World Cup. Like Peter de Villiers and John Smit did on that dark night for South African followers back in October 2011, Reds captain James Horwill maintained his dignity.
There is scarcely a weekend in rugby where I don’t feel sympathy for a coach or captain who has to bite his lip, and I saw Horwill do it twice over the past two Saturdays. The first time I was there in the press conference when he had to deal with questions about Lourens van der Merwe’s officiating in their Kings Park match against the Sharks, the second was on television after the Lions game. Both times I thought he would be justified in having a full tip at the South African referees.
Because the commentators at the game never made much mention of the refereeing, I was wondering for a while after filing my report if maybe I was imagining it. So I was relieved when Nick Mallett and the rest of the SuperSport in-studio crew later in the evening voiced exactly the same concerns I did, and played the clips that backed up their criticisms.
They said what needed to be said, which is why I don’t really want to use this forum to attack Berry. In the words of a Parlotone’s song, he is only human after all. And that may be the heart of the problem.
I co-wrote a book with former Bok coach De Villiers in which he stopped only just short of accusing Lawrence of cheating the Boks in Wellington two-and-a-bit years ago, but I don’t really believe that was the case. It is more likely that he did what Victor Matfield suggested in his book, which was to freeze on the big occasion of a World Cup quarterfinal.
Interestingly, All Black captain Richie McCaw, in his book, The Real McCaw, felt Wayne Barnes did the same thing in the World Cup quarterfinal that New Zealand lost to France in Cardiff in 2007. Like Lawrence four years later, Barnes’ crime, according to McCaw, wasn’t so much that he blew his whistle, but that he didn’t blow it enough.
In other words, he took on the deer caught in the headlights persona, and just let things go that he shouldn’t have. He was frozen into a type of refereeing inertia. Him doing that happened to suit France, just as in Wellington Lawrence’s abandonment of his usually officious manner suited the Wallabies.
In Berry’s case this past weekend it was quite different. He did blow his whistle, but after halftime he appeared to be only refereeing one team. After giving it some thought, I reckon he might have fallen victim to something that former Sharks coach John Plumtree once referred to.
I can’t remember the specifics of the match in question, but Plumtree felt that when a team comes back in a game where they are well behind and then starts to press for the win, the referee gets caught up in the momentum and forgets himself as he starts to feel part of the tidal wave. When there is a big crowd urging on the home team, as was the case this past Saturday, it would be almost inhuman not to get caught up.
Referees are not robots that have no emotion, and it is why all the experienced professional coaches agree that there are many referees out there that could be referred to as “home town refs”. That does not mean they are biased to a particular team, just that they are aware of what the people in the stadium are wanting from the game and may subconsciously lean in that direction.
I thought Glen Jackson might have been caught up in that mentality when he awarded the Brumbies a dubious penalty try in the last minute of their home match against the Stormers. While I don’t think there is a better referee on the planet, I would fully understand if Craig Joubert spent the last 20 minutes of the 2011 World Cup final willing the All Blacks not to commit the transgression that would bring a nation’s wrath down on him.
In the later game this past Saturday, there were times when the inexperienced referee in the Bulls/Sharks game gave the impression he might have been caught up by his first experience of the Loftus atmosphere.
So if we agree you can’t take the humanness out of the referees, and accept that some of the things discussed just come with the territory, how can we make it easier for them to have less of an influence than they are having?
Apart from reinstalling the concept of neutral referees to all games in Super Rugby, the change I would most like to see made is to the carding system. Having the Reds reduced to 14 and then 13 men in the last minutes of the Ellis Park game was effectively what decided the result, and we just have to think back to the Springbok clash with the All Blacks in Auckland last year for evidence of just how damaging the wrong call can be when it comes to determining the numbers on the field.
A booking system, like in soccer, would surely be enough of a check on foul or negative play, for no player wants to have to sit out a game, which he would have to do once he was booked a stipulated number of times. Failing that, players carded could be replaced by players on the bench for the rest of the game.
One thing is clear though, a situation like the one we saw at Ellis Park is bad for rugby and the questions about the officiating and the impact it had marred what was otherwise an absorbing contest.
Eish, al weer Protea krieket, nou moet ons weer na die chokery kyk ?
Sien Flip is uit vir Chiefs wedstryd. Willemse het goed gedoen, laat Flip goed regkom dat hy reg is vir oorsese toer, waar Vic ‘n wedstryd of 2 sal moet rus.
And another one’s gone,
another one’s gone.
Another one bits the dust.
@ nortierd:
Good post Naughty.
I heard afterwards the penalty count in Reds – Lions game was 19-4 favoring the Lions and 2 yellow cards. I did not watch the game that critically, just lived in the moment. What is the take form the Lions guys here?
Grats to Bulls – did not expect this and it was a bit of a weird game.. That aimless kicking in the first half, for the love of all things green that could not have been Jake’s game plan. Looking forward to see him coming down to earth again and this is opening up the SA conference a bit. The full of themselves Sharks supporters at the office is singing a different tune today I must admit. The Bull’s supporters just a smile and still in shock I reckon 🙂
As for the Cheetahs and the Stormers – tough race for the bottom honors there lads, but keep on doing f-all, you are exceeding in it…
There has to be referee accountability in Vodacom Super Rugby, writes MARK KEOHANE in his Business Day newspaper column.
The custodians of Super Rugby’s officials have to front the issue of referee incompetence and bias.
It is not good enough to every week release a statement admitting to referee and television match official mistakes. It is not good enough to publicly admit that a try should not have been awarded or that a yellow card should not have been issued.
The result doesn’t get changed. Teams aren’t awarded two points each because wrong decisions influenced the outcome of a match. The result stands and so apparently does the referee. It is not good enough to declare (after the fact) that the referee has not been up to the task and then that same referee is back in the spotlight, further embarrassing himself and Super Rugby as a tournament.
South African Stuart Berry’s performance at Ellis Park was shameful, disgraceful and simply embarrassing.
Berry, a week before, showed a similar bias in the Lions’ match against the Blues and made big calls that favoured the home team. Berry soured the Lions’ back-to-back home wins. The hosts, in both wins, were brave, busy and ballsy, but they also had the luxury of home-town decisions.
The Lions players didn’t ask to play with a 16th man and no doubt they will be on the receiving end when they go on tour. Then it will become an issue because they will be the ones feeling as if they are playing into an unrelenting wind that only gets stronger.
Rugby is supposedly a contest between two teams. It is not a game played by one team. Berry, in the second half against the Reds, officiated as if there was only one team playing – and that was the visiting Reds. He singled out only their mistakes and when there weren’t obvious mistakes he found some in the name of referee interpretation. The only thing he didn’t do was score the Lions’ match-winning try, although he did ask the captain if ‘we’ were scrumming again 5m from the Reds tryline.
Berry has to be axed from the referee panel. He did the game a disservice and he harmed the tournament prospects of one team.
Berry is unlikely to be given the boot. Referees are the untouchables of the game. Players and coaches have to front for their performance, but not referees.
If excellence is the measurement then Berry should be out of a job. This was not human error or referee interpretation. This was an example of shameful officiating that again questions the integrity of the competition structure not to invest in neutral referees.
Teams from different countries deserve a referee from a different country. That way no team can accuse the referee of bias or of cheating. Any dissatisfaction would then be consistent with incompetence.
Berry favoured the Lions like a fat kid favours an afternoon at Sweets for Heaven. It took the shine off the Lions’ comeback from 20-3 to win 23-20 because it is questionable whether there would have been a fightback had Berry applied the laws to both teams.
There were other instances over the weekend of referee incompetence and bias – and it has been the situation every weekend.
Those employed to be professional referees are determining the futures of those employed to play and coach the game. The referee, in a professional game, has to be as accountable as the player and coach. There has to be a consequence. Players get dropped and coaches get fired. What about referees?
The men with the whistles can no longer be a protected species.
Those who referee professional rugby chose the profession. These aren’t good-natured loveable blokes volunteering their services on a Sunday so that 30 blokes can have a game of rugger. These are professionals and too many in Super Rugby aren’t equipped to be called professionals.
Watching Super Rugby at the moment is infuriating because the referees and TMOs are getting so much wrong. Some referees ask for TMO assistance and then disregard the recommendation of the TMO. Others ask for a review, see what all of us can see and then still agree with a TMO’s recommended wrong decision.
The breakdown is a shambles. The attacking team is not favoured and the ball-carrier seems to have no rights in placing the ball. The majority of crooked scrum feeds go unpunished, there is no measurement of what constitutes a straight lineout throw, and there is confusion of when a dropped ball is deemed to go forwards or backwards and there is no consistency in the awarding of yellow cards for professional fouls.
The officiating is a mess, which makes for a messy tournament and messy viewing.
Nick Mallett: ‘Reds have reason to feel aggrieved’
Photo: Gallo Images
122 22
okay tx these summaries explains it.
There probably only did this to help me on SuperBru, yeah must be it
Gena_ZA wrote:
Ha ha, Gena
Maybe if I picked the Lions I would be praising the Berry cheat as well.
Thanks for Saturday, was moerse lekker fun
o donner…
Liebenberg sustained the injury in the recent battle with the Brumbies, and flew back to Cape Town on Monday. It’s been confirmed that he will be out of action for three weeks.
Deon Fourie is expected to replace Liebenberg at hooker when the Stormers play the Reds in Brisbane. This will force a back-row reshuffle, with Siya Kolisi replacing Fourie at No 6 and Nizaam Carr coming in for Schalk Burger, who is also unavailable due to injury.
@ Gena_ZA:
From where I was sitting, it seemed as if Berry had turned a blind eye to all the Reds infringements, such as skew feeds at scrum time, high tackles, Genia being off side at will, Reds not letting go of the ball on the ground, and even giving 3 final warnings before taking action. I thought Skosan’s try was legit. On the big screen, one could clearly see that he had grounded the ball on the line.
Great fight back on the night by the Lions. They are showing great character as a team. Previous Lions team would never have fought back like this team did. I am proud of my boys.
@ Lion4ever:
Let’s put it this way:
If Lyndon Bray’s team of assessors could have shown that Berry was wrong TWICE, he would have gotten the chop, make no mistake
Fact is Berry wasn’t chopped because the videos clearly showed that he:
1. turned a blind eye on numerous Blues and Reds transgressions
2. was correct in issuing the yellow cards to the Reds who had openly challenged him last 30 minutes
Kaplan too used to get bashed by the Aussies but each time they ran the replay they ended with egg on their faces!
@ nortierd:
Truth hurts, Mallett is no different, watch the replays rather than quote a paid commentator
Peyper and V. d. Merwe were in a league of their own when it came to swindle the outcome imo
😉
@ nortierd:
I remember Gavin Rich while still writing for the Star, years back
Never agreed with him but now he became a real menace
For 3 years running his Stormers were winning thanks to SA referees (91% of all their wins 2011-2013 obtained under SA referees) but you NEVER read him calling out those cheaters?
Why quoting him now?
😉
18 @ Hondo:
Gavin Rich is an avid Sharks supporter, I sit near enough to him often enough in the various Press boxes to know.
He makes no bones about his support… very vocal about it.
No wonder Puma has been AWOL.
Lambie picked up a knock early on in the Durban-based franchise’s narrow defeat to the Bulls at Loftus Versfeld, and though the initial prognosis was not too severe, it has been confirmed the pivot has torn a biceps tendon.
That rules Lambie out for the remainder of the Sharks’ campaign, with the recovery period likely to take around six months after surgery later this week.
Al die spies grappies nou vir Pat?
Hardly a surprise this, the only people who will be sad are the Lion supporters
SA referee Stuart Berry has not been scheduled for any further Vodacom Super Rugby games following a string of poor performances.
The level of refereeing has been terrible in this year’s competition, and Sanzar has finally decided to take action. Four referees, namely Berry, Angus Gardner, Andrew Lees, and Matt O’Brien, will not be considered for primary refereeing duty until round nine.
Berry’s suspension comes as no surprise. The South African official awarded a controversial try in the match between the Lions and Blues in round five, a call which Sanzar later admitted was completely wrong. Unfortunately, this call cost the Blues the match and the result could not be changed.
Berry was again at fault in round six when he made some questionable calls in the second half of the game between the Lions and Reds. Berry sent two Reds players to the sin bin during this period, and awarded another controversial try at the death.
Sanzar has finally decided that enough is enough.
‘We have always strived to have strong accountability within our team and importantly, accountability for the competition,’ said Sanzar game manager Lyndon Bray. ‘As such, we have always sought to conduct ourselves in a fair, transparent and open manner.
‘One of our core strategic objectives is to grow the depth of the team that is able to referee “any game, any time”. In line with this, we have reduced the size of the team heading into the next phase of the competition and in doing so, have recognised who has performed to expectation and who has not.
‘The aim is to give this smaller pool of referees more game time so when it comes to the Finals Series, there’s a great deal of pressure around who will earn those highly sought after appointments and from a Super Rugby perspective, that the competition is getting a consistent high standard of refereeing”
@ nortierd:
Didn’t Craig Joubert award the Chiefs a try (against the Stormers) just like the one Berry awarded to the Lions in the first game of the same round? Nobody complained about that one, because it benefited a Kiwi team.
kaksioek wrote:
We know Craig is an undercover Kiwi, so no gripes from me.
Berry is a cheat IMO, no other way to call it.
No, Lyndon Bray saw nothing wrong with Craig’s performance. Funny that. Mind you, Craig always performs to Kiwi expectations in New Zealand
@ kaksioek:
I don’t think it was the same situation personally, the guy passed the ball and the stormers player in the motion of tackling it the ball backwards… but it was hair splitting stuff.
@Kaki
One more game with Peyper at the Shark tank and he will be joining Lourens and Berry on the side line for Mongaolia vs Greenland.
At least Berry won’t get cold, I understand the bookies have progressed from leather jackets to fur coats
@ nortierd:
Is Mongaolia next to Molvanîa, the birthplace of whooping cough and the Molvanîan Sneezing Hound? Sounds lekker.
kaksioek wrote:
Spell check missed one for a change
@ kaksioek:
For Norty it only counts as cheating if it favours Saffer sides.
He’s like the anti-Bakkies
gunther wrote:
Nope, my alliegance lay with my SuperBru picks.
I don’t like being cheated out of points
If I thought the Lions would win and had picked them against the Blues and Reds, I would be singing Berry’s praises and telling the world he is as free and fair as a Zim election
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