VIDEO: Boks seek 'clarity' to align with match officials
Jaco Peyer, a respected former Test referee and South Africa’s Laws and Discipline advisor, explained why they have sought ‘clarity’ from match officials following their clash against Italy at Loftus Versfeld last Saturday.
Match officiating will always be a topic of discussion after a game, whether positive or negative, regardless of the outcome.
The Boks won the opening match of their two-Test series against Italy at Loftus Versfeld this past weekend and will face the Azzurri again in Gqeberha on Saturday.
The 42-24 scoreline may appear as if it was a comfortable result for the world champions, but there was a lot of frustration among the coaching staff.
There was also some concern regarding certain areas of their game and how it was officiated.
Peyper clarified the improved relationship the Boks have with referees in general and also said that SA had some questions regarding areas they were unsure of.
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“First of all, we as the Springboks feel that there are very good referees and they have a great work ethic,” Peyper told @rugby365com.
“It’s people you can prepare with for games, and that you can give feedback to and get feedback from as well.
“That is something that encourages us at a professional level.
“We certainly had one or two questions that we’ve raised from this past weekend’s [match] in terms of key focus areas we have as teams before competitions or [Test] windows.
“We have to feel each other out to see whether we understand it correctly, or whether the referees understood it correctly.
“So we have alignments that we exercise.
“The same [applies] for the players. We have to align ourselves with the plan and its execution.
“That’s our in-house process, and we respect the referees who have to go through their game reviews.
“We are sure that they’ll give us honest feedback that will put us in a better position going into this weekend on where we need to adjust.”
The Boks lost 17 turnovers compared to Italy’s 11 and won merely two, whereas the Azzurri came out on top with six.
Peyper said that the world champions are working closely with the referees to have clarity around the laws of the game and ensure they have a better understanding [of the laws] the next time the Boks take the field.
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“In rugby, when you are dominant in most areas of the game, there’s a bit of grace that sits with you.
“On the Springbok side, we need to fix that up and make sure we are showing the match official a picture that’s easier to referee and not allow too much to come down to [the referee’s] interpretation.
“On our side, that is a fix [we need to address].
“And yes, we had one or two questions.
“The Italian team had a clear plan and is well coached, but we need to understand if we have to adjust on one or two things, and if we have to, we will.
“It’s a positive process. It’s not banging anyone. It’s an environment where we all continuously learn from each other to get a better product.”
Peyper added: “It’s a question of learning. We’ve got to make sure that we are best adjusted to the referees. There’s a key focus on best practices.
“Therefore, we need to know whether we train and understand it correctly.
“For instance, where there are more numbers at the breakdown and the referee sees an infringement or had asked a player to stop doing something illegally or whether it is an infringement.”
