Springboks have law on their side

Since August this year, the Springboks have had their own law man in their management team.

Neville Heilbron, a former Currie Cup referee and at present a full time employee of the SA Rugby Union, is with the Springboks doing a job which he finds pressurised.

He was invited by coach Peter de Villiers to join the team and is finding the job “awesome, when we spoke to him at Millennium Stadium during the captain’s run on Friday.

In essence his job is get the Springboks playing within the law so that they play with greater confidence and reduce destructive penalties.

Heilbron says that he has been working hard and that the response and knowledge of the players has been “unbelievable”. “It is great to work at this level.”

He attends practices and referees the match situations played at practice, but it goes beyond that. He is expected to provide advice for players in the game and also after the game. The analysis he provides the coaching staff at half-time may well form part of the instructions to the team at the break.

When they go to a new match, it is Heilbron’s job to study the referee’s strengths and weaknesses and give the coaches and the players his findings. There was a time when coaches were not allowed to meet the referee before the match. That has been lifted, and Heilbron will help De Villiers in preparing for his meeting with the referee.

After the match he will help to provide the report on the referee which is sent to the International Rugby Board.

Consistency is the watchword – consistency by the referee in applying the law and consistency by the players in playing within the law.