The Rugby Championship: Boks refuse to blame loss on Habana yellow card

Published 6 September 2014 | By nortie
Bryan Habana

Centurion Bryan Habana

The Springboks will seek “clarity” around Bryan Habana’s controversial sin-binning but have refused to blame match officials for their one-point loss to the Wallabies in Perth.

Referee George Clancy’s call to pull a yellow card from his pocket in response to Habana’s high shot on Australian winger Rob Horne in the 65th minute lit up social media with a torrent of criticism for Clancy and the International Rugby Board’s management of its match officials.

And while a clearly agitated Heyneke Meyer walked into the post-match media conference after the match, the South African coach demurred from jumping on board, calling instead for “consistency” across the board.

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“You know the answer and I know the answer, so I’m not going to answer that,” he said when asked for his take on the decisions.

“But the ref’s always right and the only thing as a coach you want is consistency.”

Captain Jean de Villiers echoed his coach, saying the second top-ranked side in the world would “take this one on the chin”.

De Villiers was heard addressing Clancy on the pitch as the Irish referee was watching the video replay on the big screen, telling him Habana’s tackle was “exactly the same” tackle that Horne had made on him earlier in the match.

“That was my message to him on the field. We just want that consistency throughout a game,” he said after the match.

“He obviously deemed that one to be different and we’ll have a look again at our review of the game.

“To sit here and complain about the referee’s decisions, I don’t think that’s our way, and we’ll just take this one on the chin.

“We know that we could have won it, we played some good rugby at times and probably due to our own mistakes at the end we didn’t win it.

“We’d like to get some clarity on some issues but we’re definitely not going to blame the referee for his decisions.”

Meyer also kept his own counsel when asked whether the Springboks were being “targeted” by the referees.

“I’d love to answer that question but I’m not going to put my foot in it,” he said.

“At the end of the day we respect the referee, he has to make choices, and we’re never going to use that as an excuse.

“Again with Duane [Vermeulen’s penalty for a high shot on James Slipper], I thought it was an excellent tackle but if that’s the way the referee sees it then we’re never going to use it as an excuse.

“I want to keep my integrity intact, we take it on the chin, he’s the sole judge and we respect what they do.

“On the day I thought we really played well but we didn’t get the result.”

Wallabies coach Ewen McKenzie said he was happy to get the win – the side’s first under his stewardship against a side higher than Australia in the world rankings – and praised the character of the team to come back from a 23-14 deficit with 11 minutes left on the clock.

“It was a frustrating second half. We did alright in the first half playing into the wind but in the second half we found ways ​to turn over the ball and keep ourselves pretty much pinned down in our half,” McKenzie said.

“The scoreboard was a little daunting with 15 minutes to go but we knew the game would be about character, and it was never going to be a big scoreline so we had to stick at it. We built pressure and had a good result from the bench as well, and came up with a win.

“It doesn’t matter if you score in the first minute or the last, just as long as you score.”

Australia are still in third spot on the Rugby Championship table. The All Blacks have taken the lead from the Springboks after a 28-9 victory against Argentina in Napier on Saturday.

Outside centre Tevita Kuridrani, in a welcome return to Australia’s midfield, was named man of the match and players’ player.

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