Top SA refs' course
South Africa’s top eleven referees plus assessors, TMOs and selectors met at Newlands in Cape Town for two days at the end of last week.
There were administrative details attended to including the copious distribution of Canterbury kit, a BokSmart presentation on the safety of players which required the referees to become licensed, a course for the assessors and the presentation of a new proforma for reporting, discussion on several aspects of law, a scrumming session with the Stormers, one-on-ones between individual referees and the selectors and final a written law examination.
André Watson welcomed Lourens van der Merwe, a schoolmaster at Grey College in Bloemfontein, to the top panel. In doing so and in praising the achievements of Jonathan Kaplan, Mark Lawrence, Marius Jonker and Craig Joubert, Watson said: “This the best panel in my time as a South African referee.”
Those attending were:
Referees: Jonathan Kaplan, Mark Lawrence, Marius Jonker, Craig Joubert, Pro Legoete, Jaco Peyper, Joey Salmans, Stuart Berry, Sindile Mayende, Jason Jaftha, Lourens van der Merwe.
TMOs: Shaun Veldsman, Gerrie Coetzee, JC Fortuin
Selectors, performance reviewers (assessors) and coaches: Arrie Schoonwinkel (convener), Thuso Mngqibisa, Lusanda Menze, Dennis Immelman, Hulet Billett, Banks Yantolo, Jacques Hugo, Dries Breytenbach, Allan O’ Connell, Keith Hendricks, Gerrit Coetzer, Pierre Oelofse, Eugene de Villiers, Theuns Janse van Vuuren, Neville Heilbron, Tappe Henning, Eugene Daniels, Louis Mzomba.
Administration: Steve Meintjes (chairman SA Referees), André Watson (manager), Tappe Henning (presenter), Dana Eitzen, who does all the organising.
The law topics discussed with a view to applying the law accurately and consistently were the Big Four – scrums, tackles, offside at kicks and maul/obstruction. All discussions were led by Tappe Henning who had relevant clips for each topic and each aspect of each topic taken from top matches.
Referees were urged to strive for accuracy in performance – to be accurate in identifying the phase of play happening in terms of the law’s definitions, to be accurate in judging the material effect of a possible infringement instead of just giving a penalty because a penalty is available, to give an accurate sanction and use accurate, sensible communication. In brief referees were to seek to deal with the first clear and obvious infringement with material effect.
The biggest emphasis was on the scrums and the tackles. But we shall deal with what discussed on each topic with an interesting SANZAR initiative on the scrums.
