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'Lord help us': Past history of Lions series' referees against the Springboks has been dug up
Much has been made over the announcement of the Springboks and Lions squads for the upcoming tour of South Africa, but little emphasis has been made over the appointment of the referees for the series.
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New Zealander Ben O’Keefe, Australian Nic Berry and Frenchman Mathieu Raynal were named as part of the officiating team for the test series.
South African fans have been involved in controversies with other referees in the past when things haven’t gone the Springboks’ way.
Bryce Lawerence was vilified by the South African rugby public after the 2011 World Cup quarterfinal, while Jerome Garces was a target following the loss to the All Blacks in the pool stages of the 2019 World Cup.
The officials for the Lions series will be under just as much scrutiny, but one vocal South African fan has already claimed that the Springboks should be worried over the appointments, with all three referees having made big calls against the Springboks in the past.
The fan took exception to the appointments by stating ‘Lord help us’.
Nic Berry
Ben O’Keeffe
Mathieu Raynal.The Lions Series referees. Lord help us.
— A-P (@rugby_ap) June 8, 2021
Ben O’Keefe was the referee in 2017 when Wallabies fullback Israel Folau dragged Dillon Lleyds over the sideline by his hair, however no yellow card infringement was issued much to the surprise of the Springboks.
Ben O’Keeffe. The guy who looked at this and thought ‘yeah no problems’. pic.twitter.com/70X0WSXiqx
— AP Cronje (@rugby_ap) June 8, 2021
O’Keefe issued just a penalty despite protests from Lleyds who claimed that Folau ‘100 per cent’ pulled his hair twice.
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“He actually pulled me by the hair twice. He had one go at it and then he got his left hand on and pulled me down again,” Lleyds said after the match.
“I don’t know what their version of the story is, but 100 per cent he got me by the hair.”
Wallaby coach Michael Chieka got into a heated argument with a journalist in the after-match press conference, backing up Folau saying he was pulled by the collar of the shirt and not the hair.
However, video and still images of the incident show a different story in favour of Lleyd’s claims.
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Mathieu Raynal, meanwhile, was officiating a European game earlier this year between Sale and Scarlets when Welsh lock Jake Ball put a dangerous crusher tackle onto defenceless Springbok halfback Faf de Klerk at the base of the ruck.
Mathieu Raynal. The guy who looked at this and thought ‘yeah no problems’. pic.twitter.com/TyFUccPtra
— AP Cronje (@rugby_ap) June 8, 2021
De Klerk was hit high around the chops by a swinging arm by Ball and luckily escaped a serious leg injury as his body folded under the weight of the Welsh big man.
It was questionable whether the ball was out at the time, but the height of the tackle was not reviewed despite the protests of de Klerk and other Sale players.
The Twitter user admitted he had seen less of Australian Nic Berry and did not have any suggestions that his involvement was a bad thing for the Springboks.
When asked who else would be suited, he could only point to English referees as being up to standard but suggested that is the problem.
The frustration is that there are some good referees out there… but they all seem to be English. So what’s the RFU doing right that no one else is? There also needs to be some accountability for poor refereeing because standards almost across the board seem to be pretty mediocre
— AP Cronje (@rugby_ap) June 8, 2021
South Africans Jaco Peyper, AJ Jacobs and Marius van der Westhuizen were also named as part of the officiating teams for the warm-up games involving the South African club sides.
Despite concerns from the fans, the Springboks could use the tactics they used in Japan at the 2019 Rugby World Cup.
The Springboks came out after their World Cup victory and offered detail of their strategy for managing the referees, which involved detailed psychological profiling of each ref to help understand how they could be manipulated.
It was used on Jerome Garces in the final to try to help win crucial calls the Frenchman would make during the game, by praising him on his fitness and conditioning to make the referee feel good about himself.
Comments on RugbyPass
An on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
1 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusades , you can keep going.
1 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
24 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
24 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
24 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
24 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
11 Go to commentsYes Sir! Surprising, just like Fraser would also have escaped sanction if he was a few inches lower, even if it was by accident that he missed! Has there really been talk about those sanctions or is this just sensational journalism? I stopped reading, so might have missed any notations.
11 Go to commentsAI is only as good as the information put in, the nuances of the sport, what you see out the corner of the eye, how you sum up in a split second the situation, yes the AI is a tool but will not help win games, more likely contribute to a loss, Rugby Players are not robots, all AI can do if offer a solution not the solution. AI will effect many sports, help train better golfers etc.
45 Go to comments