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Ref a joke, claims angry Dwyer
By Peter Jenkins
July 10, 2006
FORMER Australia coach Bob Dwyer branded referee Jonathan Kaplan "a joke" as the South African received another scathing report from a chastened Australia side.
Dwyer last night slammed Kaplan's crucial decision in the 26th minute to send flanker Rocky Elsom to the sin bin for a third breakdown infringement.
And the Wallabies camp was also seething over the legality of three of the All Blacks' four tries.
The fallout has further strained Australian relationships with Kaplan - whose late scrum penalty against NSW sent them tumbling out of the Super 14 semi-final against the Hurricanes.
"If he is a good referee, then I have never coached a rugby team in my life," said Dwyer.
"He is a joke.
"Rocky Elsom's sin binning wasn't even an offence."
After conceding two earlier penalties, Elsom was trapped in a ruck with his massive frame blocking any quick release of possession to the All Blacks.
"I would have thought it was pretty hard to be sin binned when he committed no offence," fumed Dwyer. "Look at the replays. He was quickly getting out of the way.
"The thing that stopped him getting out of there was the four (All Black) guys jumping up and down on his legs."
Wallabies coach John Connolly agreed.
"I thought it was pretty unfair," he said.
The marching of Elsom was not the only cause for complaint from a Wallabies camp that suspects Kaplan succumbs to crowd pressure and unconsciously favours home sides.
Analysing the second try by New Zealand hooker Keven Mealamu that put the All Blacks in front for the first time, the Australians claim Kiwi captain Richie McCaw ran obstruction to create the hole for Mealamu to leap through.
They also believe, on the opposite side of the ruck, Wallabies flanker George Smith was held back.
In the third All Black try by McCaw, the Wallabies were annoyed they were not given a penalty when five-eighth Stephen Larkham - covering back to retrieve a kick - was lying on the ground when dived on illegally by an All Black tackler.
Adding to the disappointment for Connolly was the last All Blacks try - a runaway by replacement Isaia Toeava - after Larkham had a kick charged down.
Connolly pointed out that Kaplan, moments earlier, had signalled he was playing an advantage to Australia but never went back for the penalty when Larkham's attempted chip for his wide supports was blocked on the New Zealand quarter.
"There was an All Black penalty earlier when we were clearly offside and it went on three or four phases before coming back for the advantage," he said.
"With ours, the arm went out and it only went on one phase before the advantage was deemed over and suddenly there's a try at the other end. I find that confusing. It's a tough job refereeing but consistency is important."
The Daily Telegraph
"Bloody oath we did!"
Nathan Sharpe, Legend.
For mine, Australia should oppose ever being officiated by this obviously biased Ref. I am not saying he is obviously anti-Australia, just that he is swayed too greatly by home crowds......bugger it, and obviously anti-Australia![]()
"Bloody oath we did!"
Nathan Sharpe, Legend.
Kaplan is shite and always will be shite.Apart from him the standard of reffing is pretty poor across the board. Do home teams have a say who wiill be in charge of a match? Can they put in a wish list or suggest a ref? How about giving some Pacific Island or South American guys a chance to officate.At least there would be no bias involved (hopefully) and would broaden the ref base panel,so ejiots like Kaplan and co would not be walk up starts to officiate in big games.
No, Kaplan's not a joke. Unfortunately, he's a ref![]()
Kaplan's hatred of Australia and anything Australian is palpable. He oozes loathing. How this man can be supported as a top whistler by the I.R.B is entirely beyond comprehension.Originally Posted by The Lone Hydrangea
it seems ironic now but i used to like kaplan because he could make a joke. I remember a bledisloe cup match a while back where he called carter over for a chat and put his hand in his pocket as if he were going to pull out the yellow card and carter was getting all nervous. Then kaplan grinned, told him to behave himself and pulled his hand out with no yellow card. I remember thinking it was nice to see some humour from a bloke with such a serious job... sadly now all i see him as now is a joke himself. a shame really.
I don't mind Paddy O'brien but how a man with that name cannot be Irish is crazy. Most Irish name i'd ever heard and couldn't believe he was a kiwi.
I made Happy sad...
Well... People should know my opinion of him by now...
bring back Andre!!
Chuck Norris has the greatest Poker-Face of all time. He won the 1983 World Series of Poker, despite holding only a Joker, a Get out of Jail Free Monopoly card, a 2 of clubs, 7 of spades and a green #4 card from the game Uno.
The mind boggles at how Kaplan can be allowed to use his own set of laws to officiate a game... I am interested to see what happens in the APC this year with the Stellenbosch rules. Anything to remove the ref's influence on the game has to be seen as a step forward.
I dont know how they do it but South Africa just keeps topping itself for producing the most incompetent officals, first Jonker's display in the Force v Crusader game, now Kaplan... (I didn't feel it was necessary to dig any deeper than that, I think we all know the rot has been there for many a year!)
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Incompetent isn't the right word... But its the first one that comes to mind.
-- Chuck Palahniuk.
"With Jonathan Kaplin [sic] producing an outstanding refereeing performance"
http://www.times.co.nz/cms/sport/agn...t100012299.php
It's only ever the winning team that will say that. If the All Blacks had lost, rest assured they'd be bitching about the ref.
Also, I like how it was a "glorious" win... For all the pressure the All Blacks put Aus under, the Wallabies were pushing hard for a consoulation try late in the game which would have made the margin only 6.
He CONSTANTLY underperforms, and should have been dropped from rep reffing long ago.The word joke doesn`t come close to what he really ranks......Why are South African refs so shiiiiite...
? Is it like a disease or something. It may sound like sour grapes, but having reffed for a few years in perth rugby, i have a high regard for good refs, and also a respect for them when mistakes are made, as they are only human. But, this @@#$%$##%% takes this respect and puts it in a rather uncomfortable dark place, if you get my meaning.
My rant is now complete, carry on![]()
I'm not a big fan of Kaplan as I have him seen him perform too inconsistently too often, but be careful criticising refereeing decisions based on what is said in the press by too many people too little knowledge of the laws.
There is a very nice blow-by-blow analysis here:
http://www.planetrugby.com/News/story_52369.shtml
And don't listen to Bob Dwyer. A great coach but a world champion whinger whenever Australia lost, and it was usually directed at the referee.
Well I've had a read and I will be intersted to take another look at some of those field markings (logos etc) during the suspect passes. Based on what they uncovered there he deserves another chance....tonight at Paly??
He has gone a bit senile hasn't he...Originally Posted by rick boyd