Sunday’s loss by the Springboks to Australia has direct bearing on the economy of Port Elizabeth – although the increased number of relatively fresh heads on Monday of those who ‘didn’t find an excuse to celebrate with copious amounts of alcohol’, may make up for that in productivity gains.
I, for one, in protest at the lack of decisive leadership or action from the Rugby World Cup authorities, will no longer be watching the Rugby World Cup and hope that advertisers will also feel the pain of the loss of ONE spectator – soon to be joined by many more I am sure!
The devastating blow to South Africa, who lost 11-9 to Australia on Sunday in a game refereed by Bryce Lawrence has resulted in loads of vitriol directed at the 40 year old, ex-school headmaster from Bay of Plenty in New Zealand.
Well if Bryce thought that to control 30 players on the field would be easier that controlling the same amount of teachers plus a thousand odd pupils, he was sorely mistaken. Not, only mistaken but he also forgot the billions of amateur ‘we know better’ referees that would be watching his every move like hawks – and with the benefit of replays, slow motion and reverse angles.
That Bryce continues to make glaring errors in refereeing is a LONG KNOWN fact – players, fans and coaches have always ‘politely’ picked Lawrence’s poor performance apart. Sunday’s appalling decisions (actually lack of any form of consistent decision making) were not a once off aberration but rather a continuation of baffling bumbling at the highest level of the game on a continuous basis.
Increasingly this year, Lawrence has drawn fire from many teams and nations – he certainly didn’t single the Springboks out for ‘special treatment’.
In addition to baffling decisions in the June 2011 Sharks Crusaders Super Rugby playoffs, Bryce Lawrence was also picked out for baffling decisions against Australia in their 15-6 crucial Rugby World Cup loss against Ireland at Eden Park on 17 September 2011.
But, the Wallabies refused to make any negative comments about Lawrence after the game and embarked on a charm offensive instead:
- “He is one of the best at scrum times, definitely,” prop Ben Alexander said.
- “That’s all you can ask for from a referee and in Durban we scrummed well and Bryce rewarded us.”
- “We have had Bryce plenty of times before and I have always found him pretty consistent at the scrum.”
However in the Australia South Africa game the Springboks dominated at scrum and in all facets of play.
Did the Wallabies know that being charming to Lawrence would gain them Brownie points going into the vital quarter final against the Springboks?
Serious questions also need to be asked about the assistant referees conduct during the Australia South Africa game – the only time that intervention occured from an assistant referee was to penalise a Springbok player.
The game is over, the history books will reflect a win for the Wallabies and in time we will forget the many reasons why the Springboks lost.
One has to conclude that Bryce Lawrence didn’t have it in for the Springboks but was just displaying his continued ineptitude and complete loss of ability to referee at this level of the game.
The time has come for Bryce Lawrence to shuffle off of the rugby field and hang his whistle up – there is a school somewhere needing a nincompoop.
Bryce Lawrence
