Referees
Bulls scrum half, Francois Hougaard, has been suspended from all rugby for one week after receiving a RED CARD in the game against the Cheetahs for a tip-tackle on Robert Ebersohn.
SANZAR have released the match officials for the second Round in the 2012 Super Rugby tournament and Keith Brown starts the action on Friday and Mark Lawrence brings it to a close.
This weekend has seven matches with three on Friday and four on Saturday. This weekend the Brumbies have the bye.
It is a simple edict – aim to have at least 70 percent of ball available out of the ruck within three seconds – and this will be one of the crucial areas where referees will turn their attention to in the 2012 Super Rugby season.
Former Springbok prop Robbie Kempson is worried that the Stormers’ front row doesn’t instil enough fear into opponents ahead of the Super Rugby tournament.
Every Super Rugby team has its SANZAR judicial atrocity story, writes Rugby Heaven’s Greg Growden.
The referees for the first 6 weeks of Super Rugby in 2012 has been announced by SANZAR.
Some interesting appointments indeed.
Let the games begin!
Here’s a Schedule as well as the official Statement, as received via Media Release.
With the Six Nations looming large it might be time to have a look at what we can expect from the tournament the players, coaches and of course the referees.
South Africa’s top referees scrummed against each and were given master classes from top coaches as part of a recently completed four-day training camp prior to the start of the 2012 rugby season.
With only 3 weeks to go till the start of Super Rugby 2012, the news has arrived that all referees in Super Rugby as well as the Southern Hemisphere test series now to be known as The Rugby Championship (Tri Nations expanded) have powers to put players ‘ON REPORT’ for suspected foul play, under a system whioch will be trialed in rugby union for the first time.
The Outspoken Toulon owner and club president Mourad Boudjellal has been given a 130-day ban for using lurid language to describe the level of refereeing in a recent Top 14 Rugby match.
Controversial New Zealand referee Bryce Lawrence will undergo a “rehabilitation” and reports that he will not referee in South Africa this year are simply not true.
SANZAR Referees boss Lyndon Bray says there is “absolutely no truth” in reports that Lawrence will not referee in South Africa this year as a counter to the backlash from his poor refereeing performance in the Rugby World Cup quarter-final where the Springboks lost against the Wallabies. Continue reading
New Zealand’s top referee Bryce Lawrence will not travel to South Africa to officiate Super Rugby matches after he refereed the Springboks in their Rugby World Cup exit match.
French referees said they were suing Toulon president Mourad Boudjellal for defamation after he made lurid accusations in the wake of a Top 14 defeat.
A very well written article on the role of the referee, and how he is vilified.
While the All Blacks finish the year as the world champions, the ranks of the refereeing fraternity also boast something of a ‘winner’ with South African official Craig Joubert overseeing the 8-7 win over France.
Springbok giant Victor Matfield says that Andries Bekker has the ability to be an even better lock than him, and that the Stormers are very close to winning an elusive Super Rugby crown (clearly at this point he had just inhaled a bit of that ‘mountain baccy’).
As the Heineken Cup season gets under way, a series of controversial decisions by match officials in opening matches, has led to the International Rugby Board’s decision trial the wider use of television match officials to help get more accurate opinions on red card offences and crucial forward passes, among other things.
Read this on News 24, think it is hysterical!!!!!
Wellington – New Zealand rugby referee Bryce Lawrence on Wednesday said he won’t officiate in South Africa if he fears for his safety after his performance at last month’s Rugby World Cup quarter-final between the Springboks and Australia.
Lawrence’s control of the October 9 quarter-final, won 11-9 by Australia to end South Africa’ reign as world champion, was strongly criticized by Springboks players, coaching staff and fans.
SANZAR have announced the ten-man Merit Panel of referees for the 2012 Super Rugby competition with South Africans making up half of the positions.
International Rugby Board referees boss Paddy O’Brien says the authority of television match officials is likely to be extended on a trial basis next year and could be permanently increased.
Respected sport scientist and long standing friend of RuggaWorld, Dr. Ross Tucker, offers his views on the Rugby World Cup and specifically referees and how their performance is damaging the game’s credibility.
Article originally published on The Science of Sport website
Thanks Morne & RuggaWorld. Some of the responses will be brought over to appear under the comments. I found this article to be one of the very best I have ever read. Warning it is long, take your time and read the comments too.
After some careful thought about the repercussions a team has to face, due to foul play by individuals in a team, who in most cases really aren’t dirty players and what it actually means for a team to play with 14 men for either 10 minutes and in some cases anything up to 80 minutes, it is clear in my opinion that it needs to be re-assessed.
The experienced Bryce Lawrence will referee the Absa Currie Cup Final when he takes charge of the match between the MTN Golden Lions and The Sharks in Johannesburg on Saturday.
So the world cup is over, and what have we learnt?There were some controversial issues, some very close matches and some really angry fans.
I still just can’t get over that quarter final loss.
The more I think about it the more I feel we were robbed. Yes, the referee was bad and wrong and yes we contributed to our demise with how we approached the game and by the appointment of a puppet as Springbok coach 4 years ago. However, all of that (poor referee, game plan, coach selection) and the Pool construction process at this year’s Rugby World Cup is part of an insidious virus, in my opinion, which is destroying Rugby Union as we know it. It is this virus which orchestrated our demise in the Rugby World Cup quarter final match against Australia.
Former All Black coach Laurie Mains has not been happy with the standard of refereeing at the Rugby World Cup.
“I’ve been appalled by the refereeing, especially how they have decided games with scrum penalties,” Mains said.
“Games have been won and lost from scrum penalties when the wrong decision was made. You should not have a situation in rugby where games are won and lost by the referee’s guess,” he said. Continue reading
Springbok and Stormers winger Bryan Habana has extended his contract with Western Province for another three years keeping him a Stormers until 2015.
This is a satirical look at South african rugby, it is not intended to offend anyone, so please read it with the intent in which it was written.
Peter de Villiers is beskikbaar om die Springbok-rugbyspan vir langer af te rig.
As a general rule I watch the rugby not the referee.
This of course doesn’t mean that I don’t shout at the referee (even in front of the TV knowing pretty well that he can’t hear me) when he makes mistakes. I can see when the referee has a bad game and of course I get upset but I am, as a spectator, more interested in how we play; what do we do with the ball; our structures and systems at the tackle ball; our game tactics; what is the script we are following; our defensive patterns; are we showing improvement on previous games in areas we didn’t do well; how is our scrum going; are we using starter moves; running angles of the backline; how well is No10 dictating the match and where does he take up position behind the scrums, at rucks and line-outs and so forth.
A consequence of all that is that I tend to reflect more on why didn’t we get things right or what went wrong and what can we improve on, independent of whether we lose or win after the match. Continue reading
Golden Lions CEO Manie Reyneke has quit in his position as Chief Executive Officer of the union, the GLRU announced.
Got this from my brother and thought you guys would enjoy this immensely.
Following on from GrootBlouSmile’s article about South African rugby’s next step. Here is my input.
GBS and BonzaiGBS
The South African National rugby shift boss…. errr sorry, coach appeared to have resigned in interviews in New Zealand, only to then deny that he had resigned upon arrival in South Africa. Whatever the situation, his 4-year contract comes to an end at the end of December 2011 anyway, which leaves the process open for a replacement to be appointed.
There has already been wide-spread speculation as to who the right candidates might be…. but that’s not why I am writing this Article!
Danny Svoboda (in picture) played for Rhodesia in 1970 on the wing. The picture here shows him playing against the 1970 All Blacks touring side.
Danny’s widow, now living in Thailand, has contacted me in search of information about Danny.