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IAN RANSOM
Last updated 17:42 21/03/2014
Super Rugby governing body SANZAR will conduct a purge of the competition's referees in the wake of a series of controversial blunders by match officials in the opening rounds of the season.
Lyndon Bray, SANZAR's referees co-ordinator, said the 18-member team of referees was set for change.
"Within the next week or two we will be making decisions that will keep our team extremely accountable," Bray said in comments published by The Australian newspaper on Friday.
"There is a lot of pain to go for referees ... The fact is, they're either going to get dropped out of the team, which is a significant consequence obviously, or suffering from the point of view of number and quality of appointments.
"It will be a strong statement in terms of those who are currently refereeing at the top of our team and those that are clearly moving in that direction and those that aren't."
The standard of officiating came under heavy scrutiny last weekend, with coaches from several franchises fuming after contentious decisions.
Bray was moved to clarify a number of them this week, including a controversial try awarded by South African referee Stuart Berry to Lions fullback Coenie van Wyk during the Johannesburg-based team's 39-36 win at home to the Auckland Blues.
With help from South African television match official Johan Greeff, Berry awarded the try despite video footage showing Van Wyk's team mate Deon van Rensburg had lost the ball forward in a tackle on the try-line.
Queensland Reds coach Richard Graham said he would contact Bray after some "bewildering" decisions in his team's 35-20 loss against the Sharks in Durban, while New South Wales Waratahs coach Michael Cheika also grumbled about scrum penalties in his team's loss to the ACT Brumbies.
"I would always dispute the argument that there is no accountability or action," Bray said.
"There is. I would only say watch this space at the moment because we're 80 percent through the process of making some of those decisions."
http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/rugby/s...set-for-change
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Why wait "a week or two"? The same two who conspired to make that home town decision for the Lions have again been rostered for the Lions match this week. Neutral referees is a no-brainer.
"The main difference between playing League and Union is that now I get my hangovers on Monday instead of Sunday - Tom David
My understanding was that isn't cause and effect though - they were always planning to trim the team partway through the season. Not sure if they perhaps moved up the timing though.
I think we should also go back to independent refs.
May the FORCE be with you!
Wests Scarborough 1st Grade juggernaut has played finals rugby each and every year since its inception and continues this remarkable feat yet again this season and unbelievably it's still rolling on and as an added little circle jerk for the masses Wests actually hold the record for the current longest unbroken finals record.
Except for the fact that all NZ matches are officiated by a significant proportion of NZ refs, SA matches have a high number of SA refs but Aussie matches have a disproportionately low number of Aussie refs.
Does that mean that Aussie refs are of a lower quality than the muppets who gifted the lions a try, or the team that binned Coleman for making a tackle from an onside position.
Things stink in Aussie rugby if that's the case!
C'mon the![]()
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What really annoys me is that, you would think that by going upstairs to check with the video ref, you would get a definitive answer that any ref in the rugby world would agree with! Now we have SA refs disagreeing with the Ruling body. WTF!
I understand about cost but to my mind it is not working. There have been to many very ambiguous decisions over the last couple of years. I in no way think this was any form of cheating but think that some refs may be influenced by the crowds.
May the FORCE be with you!
What really annoys me is that, you would think that by going upstairs to check with the video ref, you would get a definitive answer that any ref in the rugby world would agree with! Now we have SA refs disagreeing with the Ruling body. WTF!
I understand about cost but to my mind it is not working. There have been to many very ambiguous decisions over the last couple of years. I in no way think this was any form of cheating but think that some refs may be influenced by the crowds.
May the FORCE be with you!
Can't see neutrals coming back. As long as we get Jaco Peyper as our saffa ref, I've got no problem. He's top dog IMO.
Refs get dropped if they consistently under perform same a players do.
Not sure why this is such a big surprise.
WARURA Referee
I do it because I love the game.
Based on the 1st half performance of the same officials in the Lions v Reds game they won't be asked back next week. The first 2 Reds tries came from knock-ons!!! A case of evening up the ledger against the Lions' previous favourable decisions perhaps?!
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Overall what are the opinions of the refereeing in last nights game in Perth? A few of us at the game thought it was poor and that it generally favoured the Chiefs where there was room for interpretation, but given my support of the Force I wonder if I am biased. The late shot on Ebersohn in the first half by the Chiefs 8, which was I penalised, shortly after Alby's dance class did seem to be studiously ignored.
Do we seem to always get the new or poor refs in Perth? Will better performances see better standard of referees in Perth?