SA match officials in the firing line

REACTION: South African match officials are back in the spotlight – for all the wrong reasons.

There was an outcry when the officials for the World Cup was earlier this month, with only two South Africans – Jaco Peyper (as a referee) and Marius Jonker (as a TMO) – making the cut.

However, recent performances suggest the selection panel may not have been so far off the mark with their rating of SA officials.

The Highlanders and Crusaders were left asking questions, after both teams were frustrated with calls made by South African referees.

It follows frustrations from the Waratahs who were left puzzled with the performance of referee Egon Seconds in their encounter with the Lions.

At Newlands, at the weekend, TMO Marius Jonker controversially denied the Crusaders a try in the 75th minute – which would have sunk the Stormers.

Earlier Rasta Rasivhenge pinged the Highlanders 12 times to the Lions’ three times in Johannesburg.

The penalty count against the Highlanders was similar to last week’s Bulls versus Crusaders match under Rasivhenge’s watch, which ended with a 12-4 advantage to the home side in Pretoria.

The objectivity of South African referees when reffing South African teams at home against non-South African opponents has been called into questions by fans and media alike.

This season international teams have lost the penalty count 96-47 when playing in South Africa against the Bulls, Lions, Stormers, and Sharks with a South African ref.

When those same South African sides play at home with a non-South African ref against international sides, the count is much more even at 72-66.

Non-South African teams are getting penalised 33.3 percent more with a South African ref, while the home teams are getting penalised 28.8 percent less, resulting in a significant swing advantage in the penalty count to the South African sides.

Have the Bulls, Lions, Sharks, and Stormers just been far more behaved when a South African referee has the whistle, and conversely are international visitors offending more?

When former Stormers player Egon Seconds has refereed in those fixtures, the penalty count is a staggering 3-31 in favour of South African teams. For every one penalty the opposition is awarded, South African teams are receiving 10. That type of imbalance will kill any contest.

Seconds did not feature in the list of match officials this past weekend, with unconfirmed suggestions that he was – following his performance against the Waratahs, which among many things, involved the ref pushing opposition players at the ruck.

Rasta Rasivhenge has a penalty count of 23 against South African teams and 44 against international opposition in games in South Africa.

An international away side has only won the penalty count once this season in South Africa with a South African ref, when the Chiefs smashed the Bulls under AJ Jacobs at Loftus Versfeld. It has been the only game in these set of circumstances AJ Jacobs has officiated.

When former Australian Sevens player and Brisbane stalwart Damon Murphy reffed the Reds in Tokyo against the Sunwolves, the visitors ended up with an 11-4 penalty advantage – as the Sunwolves were pinged out of the game – handing the under-pressure Reds their first win of the season. Murphy’s brother played for the Reds, while Damon himself made one non-Super Rugby appearance for the franchise.

The TMO call at Newlands at the weekend added fuel to the fire.

It seemed that the Crusaders would take the match when in-form wing Sevu Reece blistered down the sideline in the 75th minute, before chipping ahead into the Stormers backfield. A fortuitous bounce found its way back into Reece’s hands to score what would’ve been a match-sealing try. A contentious TMO decision ruled a forward pass in the lead-up by Braydon Ennor to deny the score.

It seemed that the Crusaders would take the match when in-form wing Sevu Reece blistered down the sideline in the 75th minute before chipping ahead into the Stormers backfield. A fortuitous bounce found its way back into Reece’s hands to score what would’ve been a match-sealing try. The contentious TMO decision by Jonker ruled a forward pass in the lead-up by Braydon Ennor to deny the score.

The ball did appear to sail forward from Ennor’s pass that left his hands on halfway and was caught by Reece a few metres in front of that, but whether he propelled the ball backwards out of the hands remains contentious.

The ensuing scrum gave the Stormers the platform they needed to make a last-ditch effort at stealing the win, which they earnt a penalty from to set-up a grandstand finish. They could have taken the match themselves when a try went begging to Damian Willemse who knocked-on a cross-field kick with the line begging.

With advantage being played for a high tackle, Stormers captain Siya Kolisi opted to kick a penalty goal to tie the match instead of going for the win.

The Stormers have not been without refereeing controversy this season when the visiting Lions were undone by questionable penalties to keep the game going which resulted in a try in the 85th-minute to win the match for the home side in Round 2. The match was refereed by former Stormers player Egon Seconds.

Source: RugbyPass