Robbie Deans slams referee after All Blacks whitewash

Darren Walton
October 31, 2009 08:27pm

FURIOUS Wallabies coach Robbie Deans blamed South African referee Mark Lawrence for ruining his side's chances against the All Blacks.

The Wallabies lost the opportunity to make a triumphant start to their spring tour when the All Blacks powered to a seventh straight Bledisloe Cup victory in the match in Tokyo.

An exasperated Deans broke from his routine of refusing to publicly criticise match officials after the All Blacks won 32-19.

Deans claimed Lawrence soured the showpiece encounter as a spectacle by not sin-binning the All Blacks for blatant infringements that killed a series of Australian try-scoring opportunities.

The Wallabies won the penalty count 13-9, but Deans insisted the yellow card should have been used to deter spoiling tactics.

"I know of (our) first six penalties, four were in the red zone," Deans said.

"And there probably should have been a couple of others where the ball was lifted out of the rucks one metre short of the line.

"That's frustrating from our perspective, particularly when playing a fixture in Tokyo where you're trying to promote the game.

Deans aired his frustrations after the injury-hit Wallabies produced a vastly-improved performance despite ultimately squandering a halftime advantage for the fifth time in their past six trans-Tasman encounters to slump to a 4-0 series defeat against the All Blacks for the first time since 1962.

Winger Peter Hynes had boosted Australia's hopes when he broke the Wallabies' four-and-a-half-hour tryscoring drought against New Zealand five minutes before the break to help the side to a 16-13 advantage.

But the All Blacks rebounded strongly in the second half, with a converted try to centre Conrad Smith and four Dan Carter penalty goals enough to give the world's second-ranked outfit a triumphant start to their spring tour of Europe.

Against the odds, after a series of injury setbacks and team disruptions, it was a vastly-improved performance from the Wallabies who were hammered 33-6 in their most recent meeting with the Blacks seven weeks ago in Wellington.

Again outpointed at the breakdown, the Australians were nevertheless far more competitive at ruck time with Deans's contentious decision to start young bull David Pocock ahead of record-breaking flanker George Smith proving correct.

Rookie halfback Will Genia was fabulous in just his third Test start.

His instinct and crisp service sparked the backline.

Teenage fullback James O'Connor played with far more assurance than during his mixed Tri Nations campaign against New Zealand.

Hynes's five-pointer marked the first time Australia had breached the New Zealand line since Berrick Barnes scored in the fourth minute in Auckland three Tests ago.

The Japanese crowd, enjoying their first Bledisloe Cup Test, gave the All Blacks rousing applause after the performance of their traditional pre-match haka.

The Test was taken to Tokyo to help promote the game in Japan, where the 2019 Rugby World Cup will be staged.

http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/s...003411,00.html

the key is to score more points than the oppostion. well, it was the last time i looked. stop looking at excuses, look to reducing errors and stupid mistakes, concentrate on playing the international way,i.e, field position and pressure and a kick arse kicker. after that look to the officials

i have to say, i can't understand how McCaw gets away with some of the things he does. At one point, he was standing over the half back trying to get the ball...

Also, in the last part of the game, Pocock gave away a penalty for coming in from the side. I dont underestand how he could have, considering he was the first there and no ruck had formed. how could he be offside, without a ruck?

Also, Manu Nonu LIVES off side, he is always running on the wrong side of rucks etc, basically getting in the way, yet he never gets pinged for it. It is fricken annoying.

My bitch...

The call on Pocock was what did it for me. I can handle poor reffing, but I can't handle it when it only applies to one side. Consitently crap would be better than just crap towards us and blind to everything else. McCaw - you've gotta sort of admire him, he does the impossible. I loved the commentators at one point - 'borrowed Harry Potter's invisibility cloak' - pfft.

No, no, no. It wasn't poor reffing. It just how we Wallaby fans see the game. Well, that's what the Kiwi fans would be spouting. when will this end. Is it just me or do we often cop the short end of the stick with the ref's. If why one question. Why?

Reputation!

That's my call. Richie McCaw is the best flanker in the world (so they say) so he must be doing what he does legally. The wallabies are dodgy in the scrum and at the breakdown, so there must be penalties there.

That's my humble opinion.

Unfortunately I think GIGS is right.
McCaw fouls so consistently that it seems a different set of rules applies to him. Similar thing for NZ forward passes. And until the Wallabies absolutely monster a NW or Jarpie scrum they'll always get pinged when a head pops out of the scrum, regardless of who's fault it is.