The International Rugby Board (IRB) has defended its decision to allow controversial French referee, Romain Poite, to take charge of a Springbok Test later this year.
The Springboks start their season with a match against a World XV on 7 June (venue to be confirmed but believed to be in Cape Town).
Sport24
They then tackle Wales in consecutive Tests (Durban, June 14 and Nelspruit, June 21) before concluding the Incoming Series with a match against Scotland in Port Elizabeth on June 28.
The referees and officials for the June Test window were named on Tuesday with Poite scheduled to take charge of the June 14 Test at Kings Park. He will also be assistant referee for the Tests in Nelspruit and Port Elizabeth.
Poite was persona non grata in South Africa last year after he incorrectly gave Bok hooker Bismarck du Plessis a yellow card against the All Blacks in Auckland.
The IRB’s head of referees, Joël Jutge, defended the decision, saying it’s needed for Poite to referee another Springbok Test, especially with next year’s World Cup in mind as it’s almost certain their paths will cross again.
Jutge said that Poite had publicly admitted to making a mistake and was “punished” by not getting any top level Tests in November last year. The only Test awarded to the Frenchman was a match between Georgia and Samoa in Tbilisi in Eastern Europe.
“The South African rugby public is very passionate, but they know the game. They won’t forget the mistake, but I’m of the opinion that he won’t feel unwelcome in South Africa,” said Jutge.
SARU CEO, Jurie Roux, said they expressed concern about the appointment, but respected the IRB’s call.
“We accept the IRB’s logical way of thinking. Romain, who is one of the top referees in the world, knows he made a big mistake.
“We have to move on because he will take charge of another Springbok Test in the near future,” said Roux.
In the Test at Eden Park in September last year, Poite showed Du Plessis a yellow card in the 16th minute for a perfectly legal tackle on All Black flyhalf Dan Carter.
He then showed Du Plessis a second yellow – and a subsequent red card – for leading with an elbow which connected with the throat of flank Liam Messam.
The Boks fought manfully for close on 50 minutes with only 14 players at their disposal, eventually going down 29-15.
The IRB afterwards released a statement saying Poite was wrong in his decision to give Du Plessis his first yellow card.
And so should the IRB need to defend their Appointments.
What next …………………………Groot to personally vet all International Match Officials before ratification by the IRB?
1 @ cane:
I hear your point, but let’s face facts, if the IRB was an international corporate, they’d have most of their top ref’s on final written warnings.
IMO, it’s not about errors in the past, it’s about CORRECTING those errors for the future.
I honestly don’t believe that ANY professional ref’ goes into a game with the thought of “cheating”.
He may however go into a game questioning the particular playing method(s) and / or styles of a particular team or individual, and those pre-conceptions may well ultimately have an effect on the outcome of a game.
1 @ cane:
Hahaha
I would’nt actually mind having to vet all International Match Official Appointments… at a fee of course!
… but alas, I did not write this article, I got it elsewhere…
Of course we need to vet all anti Saffa refs……….. how else do we keep the playing field level?
😆
Good to see some familiar “niks” around..
whatever wrote:
Yip, happy days! Now that you are here, we might as well invite Skopskiet over as well…..
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