South African referees are fit
Preparations for the new season
South African referees are fit and well prepared for the season ahead – the top ones at least after several courses around the country.
First of all there was a course for the top 16 referees at Newlands, then a course for northern referees and another for the southern provinces. At the southern course in Cape Town three referees from Namibia were present.
Not only referees were at the northern and southern courses. There were also council members, assessors (now called performance reviewers), rugby development officers. The referees at these two courses were referees on the South African panels, those on the contenders' squad, women referees and candidates for promotion to panels.
André Watson, the manger of referees in South Africa and one of the great referees of international rugby, was in charge of the courses and professed himself proud of his men.
"They have been magnificent," he said. "The standard of fitness and knowledge of the laws is greater than it was last year."
The courses consist of three main aspects – fitness tests, a written examination on the laws and discussion of laws.
The fitness tests have four components. For the top 12 referees they were run by the International Rugby Board who had their man, Dave Becconsall come to South Africa to run the tests. He does that throughout the world for the IRB to ensure consistency of testing.
The referees run the murderous bleep test. This consists of running a 20-metre course, turning and running back. It is done to a recorded time, speeding up all the time. It looks innocent enough to start with but soon becomes a great strain.
For a referee to function as a panel member he is required to run a 12 on the bleep test, more officially called a multistage shuttle run. That means running a total of 2 100 metres. Failure to run a 12 means that the referee will not be used on the panel until he does manage to pass the test in a controlled testing. Of the referees on the various panels in South Africa only one failed to run a 12.
The next test is a series of 40-metre sprints. Each referee ruins it twice, his better time recorded. The referee is required to run the 60 metres in under 5,7 seconds.
The third test is an agility test. The referee runs 10 metres, then sprints five. At the five-metre mark he turns and sprints back. The time is taken for the two five-metre sprints and the turn. The referee is required to do this in 2,25 seconds.
The last test is the phosphate decrement test, designed to measure recovery time. The time for the 40 metres sprint is sued as the criterion for this test. In it the referee is required to sprint 35 metres eight times with a short recovery time between each sprint and in a time related to his time for the 40-metre sprint. From this his recovery rate is measured. The referee has 30 seconds in which to complete the 35 metres, return to his place and start the next 35 metres. A variation of 10% is allowed over the eight sprints.
The referee is required to pass each of the tests and obtain an overall pass mark of 55 out of 100.
Each test has a graded allotment of marks. For example 13 for the bleep carries the maximum of 25 marks.
The top marks for the fitness tests for South African referee s was 95.
After that the referees are required to sit a written exam and are required to pass that as well in order to be active on a South African panel.
The law discussions were based largely on visual presentations organised by Mark Lawrence and include such topics as the scrum, the line-out, the tackle/ruck, management, including communication, and dangerous tackles.
There are 66 referees on panels in South Africa. There are 12 on the national panel Those 12 are the top referees in the country and include those on the IRB merit panels, Test referees, Super 14 referees, Currie Cup referees and so.
the are 25 on the provincial panel, 24 on the contenders panel and five candidates who are being considered for the contenders panel.
The referees on the various panels are:
National Panel (In merit order): 1 Jonathan Kaplan (SARU), 2 Mark Lawrence (SARU), 3 Craig Joubert (KwaZulu Natal), 4 Marius Jonker (KwaZulu Natal), 5 Tappe Henning (SARU), 6 JC Fortuin (Western Province), 7 Linston Manuels (Boland), 8 Willie Roos (Golden Lions), 9 Shaun Veldsman (Boland), 10 Deon van Blommestein (Western Province), 11 Phillip Bosch (Eastern Province), 12 Chris du Preez (Eastern Province)
Provincial Panel (in alphabetical order): Jerome America (Western Province), Peet Badenhorst (Golden Lions), Roderick Barry (Western Province), Stuart Berry (KwaZulu Natal), Michael Cupido (Golden Lions), Mandla Dakuse (Border), Phillip de Bruin (Golden Lions), Johan Greeff (Blue Bulls), Chris Healy (KwaZulu Natal), Matt Kemp (Western Province), Pro Legoete (Golden Lions), Gareth Lloyd-Jones (Western Province), Sindile Mayende (KwaZulu Natal), Johann Meuwesen (Eastern Province), Mtheleni Msileni (Eastern Province), Louis Mzomba (Western Province), Jaco Peyper (Free State), Charlton Pick (Boland), Andries Selemela (Leopards), Gert Stander (Leopards), Lourens van der Merwe (Free State), François Veldsman (Boland), Cobus Wessels (Blue Bulls), Fakumile Yamile (Eastern Province)
Contenders Squad (in alphabetical order): Alwyn Brink (Western Province), Gerrie Coetzee (Free State), Handré de Jongh (Western Province), Norman Drake (South Western Districts), Pieter Janse van Rensburg (Golden Lions), Chris Jones (Blue Bulls), Tiaan Jonker (Golden Lions), Corné Korff (Eastern Province), Wilbur Kraak (Leopards), Jimmy Kruger (Blue Bulls), Lappies Labuschagne (Golden Lions), Johan Lourens (Western Province), Mlungiseli Mdashe (Eastern Province), Jonathan Mouers (Eastern Province), Jacques Nel (Griffons), Meiring Oosthuizen (Leopards), Grant Riddles (South Western Districts), George Roper (Blue Bulls), Reuben Rossouw (KwaZulu Natal), Joey Salmans (Western Province), Dudley Stuurman (Western Province), Sieg van Staden (Falcons), Ockie van Zyl (Pumas), Hendrik Vosloo (Boland)
Candidates (in alphabetical order): J Aphane (Blue Bulls), M Bonthuys (Griffons), JD Bosch (Eastern Province), J Bothman (South Western Districts), Jaco Breyl (Pumas), S Breytenbach (Pumas), D Coetzer (Border), C Cromhout (Boland), B Crouse (Blue Bulls), Brad Dickson (Golden Lions), R Ingram (KwaZulu Natal), G Jansen (Eastern Province), S Katuya (Border), Vakalisa Kongobe (Falcons), S Koopman (Griquas), A Kruger (Free State), M Lwana (Gtoffons), Gerrit Marais (Griquas),F Maseti (South Western Districts), Jason Jaftha (South Western Districts), J Oosthuizen (Golden Lions), W Petzer (Oumas), A Retief (Pumas), A Sehlako (KwaZulu Natal), G Sehukaro (Leopards), Cecil Seketi (Golden Lions), M Vaas (South Western Distrcits), M van der Nest (Blue Bulls), J van der Westhuizen (Boland), P van Huysteen (Leopards), J Voster (Griquas), P Zimri (Golden Lions), C Zulu (KwaZulu Natal)
