Bryce-less South Africa

Kiwi referee Bryce Lawrence will reportedly not be refereeing Super Rugby matches in South Africa.

After his refereeing of the World Cup quarterfinal between South Africa and Australia, which Australia won 11-9, there was an outcry against Lawrence in South Africa, including threats, and Lawrence was not appointed to any Six Nations matches.

Since then, referees have received their match schedules for the Super 15, which starts on February 24, and Lawrence told Dylan Cleaver of the New Zealand Herald he was not listed to control any games in South Africa.

Criticis of Lawrence’s performance included John Smit, South Africa’s gentlemanly captain, and André Watson, South Africa’s refereeing boss who in his day refereed two World Cup Finals.

Lawrence, himself, was critical of his performance, saying that if he had the time over he would have refereed the breakdown differently.

He said: “I took a plan of not being overly technical into that game and possibly that was not the right plan.”

He added: “To… get to my biggest game and not referee anywhere near as well, I let myself down and I also let the team of referees] down. We were trying to pride ourselves on consistent performances so I felt I’d let them down.”

Clearly SANZAR does not believe that South Africa is yet a safe environment for Lawrence.

After all it was in a Tri-Nations match in Durban between South Africa and New Zealand that Piet van Zyl got onto the field, tackled the referee Dave McHugh and so injured him that he had to be replaced.

After the 2011 World Cup Lawrence received the New Zealand award for Referee of the Year.