Smit blows whistle on bad boy Bryce
11 Oct 2011
Retired Springbok captain John Smit had a pop at New Zealand referee Bryce Lawrence on the team’s arrival back in South Africa.
The 2007 World Cup-winning captain told local media what he told the world media after the Boks’ defeat against Australia, which was that Lawrence took no notice of his complaints about illegal Wallabies play.
”Bryce is not difficult to communicate with, he just doesn’t seem to listen very well,’ said Smit. ‘The one positive (of retirement) is that I won’t ever have to be reffed by him again.’
Smit will play for two years with English club Saracens and retires from the international game having won a World Cup and lost in the quarter-finals in 2003 and 2011 against New Zealand and Australia respectively.
He said he was proud of the effort and acknowledged the warm reception the Boks got on arrival, when thousands greeted their home-coming.
Smit also said the future of South African rugby was bright and added he expected to see the core of the 2011 World Cup squad playing for the Boks in 2012.
210 Comments
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11 Oct 2011, 04:43 am
The damage is done …. Rugby is an absolute farce !!! Might as well toss a coin to see who wins … and have the players doing ballerina dances and warm ups for 80 minutes to entertain the fans. Lawrence has completed his mission … Got paid … Sitting back with Paddy and enjoying the rest of the World Cup … ah, and then they will apologize AFTER the world cup (with Paddy giving us some spin) … and before you know it Lawrence will be back in the middle (having learnt from his mistakes) … ALL is forgiven… All Blacks are the World Champions … Lawrence (because he has redeemed himself) …will be blowing the Super 15 2012 final … fairytale ending … is anybody listening to me?
11 Oct 2011, 04:54 am
Wish he’d gone further. Lawrence refereeing was a complete joke.
Thanks John for saying it like it is. You guys won that game everywhere except Lawrence’s refereeing.
He won’t be judged fairly on that performance either, with his daddy being one of the ‘bosses’ with the IRB.
11 Oct 2011, 04:59 am
@hendrikp(hendrikp)-2:
stop whining, if you had a backline you would have won you weren’t good enough
11 Oct 2011, 05:37 am
Ref-whining world cup winners…
(But FdP is the individual champ with his moany face and both his arms raised as if in a ballet-dancing pose…)
11 Oct 2011, 05:39 am
@NZINCHINA(NZINCHINA)-3:
Was I talking to you?
No, so fark off.
11 Oct 2011, 05:40 am
@TheTackler(TheTackler)-4:
Not in the mood for this.
Be realistic.
11 Oct 2011, 05:44 am
You’ve got to love it when perennial ref-blamers, excuse-finders when they lose (aka New Zealanders and wannabe-Kiiws like Tackles) take a swipe at SA for whinging .
Pot calling the kettle All Black, perhaps???
Bryce was super-shite, no doubt, but if John Smit had not been allowed to script his own exit from the international scene (and SA Rugby only has itself to blame for that!!!), it could have been so different.
Sorry, John, but you hanging around for your self-indulgent reasons was a major factor in the team’s elimination.
Here’s hoping the clowns D ick Muir and Gary Gold follow PdV and JS into the sunset.
11 Oct 2011, 06:05 am
John please explain how you failed to stop Horwill from scoring that try. Both you and Morne bounced off him. Why? Lambie stopped his man, and you did not.
The ref was awful, and probably did enough to swing the outcome against the Boks. But if we allow the ref discussion to deflect criticism of PdV, JS and certain others in the mix then we’re avoiding the responsibility of fixing things.
11 Oct 2011, 06:07 am
@funkyzoo(funkyzoo)-8:
Fixing what? If the referee affected the outcome (which he did) then there was nothing that needs fixing.
11 Oct 2011, 06:27 am
Everyone knew that Lawrence was not going to police rucks as strictly as some refs; he is always like that and several times during the s15 we saw Brussow take advantage of that.
As soon as Heinnie went off I said to my son that the Boks will lose this game now and that is exactly how it panned out; unfortunate that they lost a guy who was crucial but that’s life and they really didn’t do want they should’ve to plug the gap (bring the next best thing to a fetcher on immediately – Bissie De P)
With perfect reffing decisions made all the time the Boks would have gone home a week earlier, as it was only through reffing errors that they beat Wales and Samoa.
11 Oct 2011, 06:29 am
The IRB needs to simplify the rules so refs can’t influence a game so much. The only way that is going to happen is if the stadiums are empty for Internationals. Time to show the IRB who the real owners of international rugby are
11 Oct 2011, 06:36 am
@ricane 10 … “With perfect reffing decisions made all the time the Boks would have gone home a week earlier, as it was only through reffing errors that they beat Wales and Samoa.” …. Rugby for Dummies : Amazon.com $29.99 (excl. Shipping) … read that and then come and comment again !!!
11 Oct 2011, 06:52 am
He is a **** ref – the Aussies hate him even more than we do. But he isn’t the reason we lost the QF.
ABs will win this week in any case I don’t think we would have beaten then.
Aussies no hope at all at Eden Park. I’m gonna put some money of the ABs – they wont be allowed to fail.
11 Oct 2011, 06:55 am
@posts(posts)-11: not sure I agree with this. The rules are simple enough. The IRB needs to sort out refs. There is no accountability. Some of the reffing in the group stages was nothing short of abysmal (SA/Samoa) yet POB (the voice of the IRB) comes out and says he is happy and proceeds to “reward” Nigel Owens with a quarter final. Every year the IRB changes the rules to make the game better, faster and more attractive yet the refs continue to “interpret” these rules as they see fit. Hands off in the ruck is not a new rule nor is entering from the side etc yet BL ignored these rules because he saw fit to do so. And this really is where the BS starts. While I understand every ref may have slight idiosyncrasies these should be things like how long to I let advantage go on for, or how skew is skew on a lineout throw but to blantantly ignore the rules is just ridiculous. Imagine a ref decides he is going to ignore knock-ons or forward passes (yes I know some do). The point here is that the problem does not lie with the rules nor the players nor the coaches or for that matter even the refs. The problem is how the IRB handle these situations and believe me, putting their head in the sand and ignoring them is not going to solve the problem. It is clearly time that they actually started holding refs accountable for their “mistakes” or more correctly their ineptitude. POB has clearly failed at his job because refs are getting away with murder and he sees fit to praise them unless NZ are at the receiving end ie PE Test and TMO referral. This **** started in the 3N last year and it has got progressively worse. The sad truth is Rugby will be the loser and the IRB will be left scratching their heads saying I wonder what went wrong. The writing is on the wall IRB, best you fix it now.
11 Oct 2011, 07:03 am
@PeaceFrog(PeaceFrog)-1: Dont make this a xenophobic anti-NZ rant, these people are incompetent for other reasons, as was Barnes in 2007, and again SA v Wales 3 weeks ago. There have been clear instances of contradictory reffing between Rolland, Owens, Kaplan and Joubert as well – nobody is exempt. Walsh missed haf a dozen forward passes as well.
We could all go on, and worse still, there are bound to be some bigger outrageous fark ups in the next 4 games
11 Oct 2011, 07:06 am
@TheTackler(TheTackler)-4:
and to think some tried to compare FDP to the great Ritchie McCaw, FDP was a 1 or 2 season wonder at best
11 Oct 2011, 07:08 am
@hendrikp(hendrikp)-5:
why couldn’t your team score a try with 99% P & T, was that also Brycies fault?
11 Oct 2011, 07:09 am
2011 there were two style of refereeing, north and south. North ignored the changes of ‘daylight’ and release the tackled player. The 2011 tests were all refereed by ignoring ‘daylight’ and release. 2011 World Cup rolls around and we are surprized?
Hell I even saw rucking in the quarter finals!
Bring back rucking.
11 Oct 2011, 07:10 am
France are going to be hard to roll, look out Australia and New Zealand.
11 Oct 2011, 07:15 am
whinging and whining from top to bottom, from Captain to blogger.
11 Oct 2011, 07:16 am
At least Matfield took it on the chin, owned the situation. Kudos to one of the best rugby players I have ever seen.
11 Oct 2011, 07:21 am
@Black Panther(Black Panther)-20:
it doesn’t stop, at least we won’t get the Bokke have “BMT” rammed down our throat for another 4 years the myth is dead
11 Oct 2011, 07:25 am
@Black Panther(Black Panther)-20: It’s like hearing about a forward pass all the time. Imagine that.
11 Oct 2011, 07:27 am
Yes the Boks should have adapted the game plan, gone for a dropped goal, had more luck. Bad back line? – did you not see Jean taking an outside gap that led to the dissallowed try? Come on this is a semi-final unlikely to produce champagne rugby – yes we blew the plot – could have nailed it
BUT – history has taught us that these games are won or lost on a ref’s decision – case in point the forward pass that cost the Kiwis the game against France 2007 and boy did they whine like in 1995 with the Suzie issue. NOW – consider Pocock joining the ruck from an offside position and kicking the ball from that offside position into Samo’s hands and a try being score – LATER Boks are on the try line of the Aussies its a maul – firstlty the Aussies are offside Bryce does not blow it seconds later Pocock does not release Schalk and flicks the ball out of the ruck – Bryce doesnot blow it – Later the touch judge rules a pass forward to Brian that was ot forward. THE POINT is those were all crucial decisions that cost us the game as it did the Kiwis in 2007 – SO nobody can be dismissive about these facts – FACTS not fiction.
11 Oct 2011, 07:40 am
nice one john but while the boks should have done better , bryce was pathetic anyone with eyes could see that.
To the AB fans who are getting their digs in i say go for it …but pray that Australia doesn’t win this weekend because you will never hear the end of it.
Quade and Genia always come to the party against the AB’s
11 Oct 2011, 07:50 am
Lolapalooza.
Knickerless moaned for days about the ref when the Ball Sacks lost at PE.
And he’ll be moaning about the ref again if his boys lose on saturday.
How embraboer can you be?
11 Oct 2011, 07:52 am
@Black Panther(Black Panther)-20:
It’s music to the ears.
11 Oct 2011, 08:01 am
Clearly there are some people who have other agendas than to blog about rugby and my friend Tackles whom I first encountered in 2000 – still stirring – apparently a SAFFA ex pat if I am not mistaken. Having been absent from this site I see Tackles has gained some support from others not interested in commenting on the game – I will post this once and then I am going to ignore you lot as i suggest the rest of the bloggers who blog about rugby need to do.
11 Oct 2011, 08:05 am
why be surprised at all.
these are after all the same ‘lets get the japies’ oke’s.
11 Oct 2011, 08:08 am
@for once more just take a break on the beach, dear springboks, for once more…(i_love_u_bakkiesbotha)-29:
His son actually…but yes, runs in the family it appears.
11 Oct 2011, 08:09 am
@NagouGrote(NagouGrote)-28:
ag you know, tackles gets a ‘ffuck you’ from me most everyday just for the effort he puts in.
11 Oct 2011, 08:09 am
@NZINCHINA(NZINCHINA)-22:
Here’s a deal…
We’ll can the ‘BMT’ myth, you can the bigger ‘Suzie’ myth.
Deal?
11 Oct 2011, 08:10 am
Come on guys, let’s move on from the poor refereeing from Bryce, we have had our say and our b itch, we are beginning to sound like the AB’s who we belittled for 4 years after their exit in 2007, let us show them that we are better !!!!
I hate saying this, but go Aussies, and I then hope Wales beat the French and then stuff it to the Aussies in the final !!
11 Oct 2011, 08:14 am
ASK SAMOA ABOUT BAD REFS……………… AHH ENOUGH SAID
11 Oct 2011, 08:20 am
This appeared in THE AUSTRALIAN this morning!! This is a national paper in Australia, written by an Australian.
LIMITING THE POWER OF THE WHISTLE
There are no doubt a lot of Australian rugby supporters celebrating our victory over the Springboks yesterday. There are also a number of us that are wondering how on earth we managed to pull it off against a side that dominated possession and territory and lineouts. Now, I don’t want to take anything away from the Australian victory – our boys did perform superbly but on the day the Springboks were, we have to admit, the better side. The boks, as always were magnanimous in defeat with a somewhat pragmatic approach to the result. I wonder what our boys would have said faced with the same situation of blatant incompetence by Mr Bryce Lawrence.
I support Australia and always will but for those of us that believe in fair play this was a hollow victory. This was very much like fighting a worthy opponent with one arm strapped behind his back – it leaves a bad taste. There were rumours about Mr Lawrence’s impartiality before kick-off from a lot of ex pat South Africans now living in Australia but we tend to dismiss these conspiracy theories with a grin. Certainly, Mr Lawrence’s performance on the field did nothing to dispel those theories. His performance was nothing short of abysmal. He did not award the bok try because of a dubious forward pass. I have looked and looked and to me, anyway, it did not look forward. Minutes later when the boks once again breached our defences and were well on the way to scoring another try, he called them back for a forward pass. If the first call was contentious, there certainly was nothing wrong with the second one. Here, I must ask – why not use the “eye in the sky”? An impressive expensive piece of equipment that should be used for such decisions.
He failed to penalise Pocock for slowing the ball down. If we had played like that against the All Blacks, they would not have been so quiet about it. – and rightly so. In the dying minutes of the game he was in full view of at least 2 high tackles by our boys that went unpunished. Any of these transgressions, if properly acted on, would have surely given the game to the Boks with their advantage over territory. To rub salt in the South African wounds, he awarded a high tackle to the Wallabies for a chest high tackle.
We won, but did we really? Our sport has always been regarded as a “hooligans game played by gentlemen” – If we do not want rugby union to degenerate into a farce that soccer can become we need to make sure that our refs are of suitable calibre. They need to be trustworthy gentlemen.
Mr Lawrence, I would advise against any planned holidays to South Africa for a couple of years.
Chris Davis
The Australian
11 Oct 2011, 08:22 am
@Black Panther(Black Panther)-20: better hope things go your way on Saturday otherwise I can imagine you´ll be joining in the whingeing. Our team definitely didnt lose because of the officiating. They were too poor on attack and protecting their ball on attack and had 2 brain f a rts in the first 20 minutes which cost us.
11 Oct 2011, 08:24 am
@31 Ha ha yes I suppose a bit of humour is in order!
11 Oct 2011, 08:29 am
@justrugby(justrugby)-33:
You just looked silly belittling the All Blacks while you were taking a pounding during the intervening 4 years.
11 Oct 2011, 08:31 am
@justrugby(justrugby)-33: Yes I am aslo tired of this – but I needed to make my one and only comment – done that now move on to watch Wales take the WC. Kiwis look lost without Carter and Aussies were poor against BOKS.
11 Oct 2011, 08:41 am
@justrugby(justrugby)-33:
Yeah Right!
8)
11 Oct 2011, 08:43 am
@kwensie(kwensie)-35:
enough said.
11 Oct 2011, 08:45 am
@kwensie(kwensie)-35:
This seems to me that there is a saffa in this guy. The forward pass is forward…no doubt about it!
He deems that the ref was biased towards the aussies…i noticed many aweful decisions towards the wallabies. This game was going to be the loser would have had plenty to complain about.
Look at that first converted penalty for the boks…the first infringement was from the boks…should have been penalty to wallabies.
I notice the possession and territory stats change as each argument is presented…the possession was 44% to the wallabies….i saw a stat from a blogger saying wallabies had 15%.
The ref was poor for the wallabies to.
Is it boeing or airbus.
11 Oct 2011, 08:45 am
@cane(cane)-40:
11 Oct 2011, 08:53 am
@kwensie(kwensie)-35:
Posting the comments of a blogger made in a newspapers forum is hardly the stuff of serious journalism.
It is simply an opinion, and carries no more value than those expressed on Keo
11 Oct 2011, 08:55 am
@NagouGrote(NagouGrote)-28: 2000?
Keo was still “gaining weight” then and the blog wasn’t on “air” then.
11 Oct 2011, 08:59 am
Lawrence is super kak and incompetent as a ref … but he was like that to both teams.
Plod must take sole blame for that loss … dominated the territory by 73% and possession by close to 60% and still the has-beens who booked their RWC spots way back in 2009 could not score a try.
Fark you Plod for keeping the worlds best no. 2 on the bench while you missed tackles which directly led to 10 points for the convicts.
11 Oct 2011, 09:05 am
Nobody from SARU seems to mention the fact that Bryce Lawrence publicly admitted that he made crucial errors in the Australia v Ireland game that favoured Ireland! Despite this he was appointed to ref the Australia quarter final. Lawrence was in a compromised position and no matter the result he would have been open to accusations of favouring the Aussies in order to balance the scorecard. This was very poor governance by the IRB! The problem has been worsened by appointing a south african to ref the resulting semi-final involving Australia. If Australia get knocked out there will be further accusations. Considering the Irishman Rolland with a French mother has been put in charge of the other semi involving France any reasonable person would have to question who on earth is making these vital decisions. It simply confirms what many of us were already well aware of, the IRB and its associates are run by a bunch idiots who are quite simply out of their depth.
Any business run in this manner would be open to charges of cronyism and corruption. I am amazed that this simple conflict of interest hasn’t been more widely discussed.
The Boks got knocked out because they scored less points than Australia. We Bok fans will do well to take cognisance of that and move on. The result will not change. The only hope I have is that this forces the IRB’s hand and ensures that refs are made accountable and that appropriate referee’s are appointed to appropriate matches.
A good example of this is that Steve Walsh doesn’t get the whistle if the AB’s make the final. Fair enough he is under the Aussie flag now but he is still a kiwi and on the other hand Darren he might hold bitterness toward the NZRU for dismissing him. If he is appointed to an AB final then we know for certain the lunatics have taken over the asylum.
11 Oct 2011, 09:06 am
Matfield was the only fat boy who did his job … he totally destroyed the convict lineout, just like he did to the Pom lineout in RWC 2007 … he can retire a legend, Plod is a doos.
11 Oct 2011, 09:15 am
How come for most saffas…wjen the boks lose it is always the ref.
Betya the ref would not be a problem if the boks won.
11 Oct 2011, 09:15 am
@tommy2pie(tommy2pie)-34: sober up idjut , samoa got away with murder , they the dirtiest ******** in rugby,
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