Bryce fears for safety in SA
16 Nov 2011
Bryce Lawrence says he won’t officiate in South Africa next season if his personal safety is under threat.
Since Lawrence’s controversial performance in the Wallabies’ 11-9 quarter-final win over the Springboks at the World Cup, the Kiwi referee has been critcized for his handling of the breakdown by South African players, fans and media.
Retired Springbok captain John Smit said: ‘The one positive of retirement is that I won’t ever have to be reffed by him again’. Even Saru manager of referees Andre Watson slammed Lawrence’s performance, saying the New Zealander won’t officiate at a future World Cup as he would be severely admonished by the IRB.
A Facebook campaign titled ‘Petition To Stop Bryce Lawrence Ever Reffing A Rugby Game Again’ set up a platform for public abuse to be directed at Lawrence, while 94.7 Highveld Stereo radio station’s Darren ‘Whackhead’ Simpson has claimed to have prank called him in the middle of the night.
Speaking to Tony Veitch on Radiosport, Lawrence said he is aware of the threat of refereeing in South Africa during Super Rugby next year.
‘I’m not totally concerned. I know a lot of other people like the New Zealand Rugby Union and SANZAR do have some serious concerns,’ Lawrence said. ‘In all honesty, I’m not going to go over there if there’s any personal threat or I have concerns about my safety because in the end it’s a job. I know that, and also it’s just a sport so I’m not going to put myself at risk.’
‘I refereed the [Super Rugby] final last year,’ he continued. ‘I’ve refereed a lot of play-off games so that level is something I’m more than capable of refereeing. I’ll referee South African teams in Super Rugby, it may be in Australia or New Zealand that I referee them and I’m sure the criticism will resurface every time I do referee them.’
Lawrence admitted that he always thinks back to his performance in the Wallabies/Bok quarter-final fixture.
‘It hasn’t been the greatest four or six weeks of my life…in all honesty there isn’t a day goes by even now that I don’t think about what I could have done better and how it’s affecting me and what it means for me going forward. It’s still very fresh and probably pretty raw really,’ he said.
‘I was disappointed with some aspects in my own performance that day after refereeing four really pretty strong games in pool play. I’m not blaming anyone for the quarterfinal refereeing display apart from myself. I didn’t referee as well as I could.
‘I was pretty relaxed going into that game, and Australia/South Africa I have refereed numerous times in the last few years at Tri-Nations level so the game didn’t scare me or concern me. I just think I went away from what I’m best at. I’m best when I’m pretty decisive and reasonably technical and tactical – and I just went too much down the tactical side of things where I was really trying to minimise making technical errors.
‘I got criticised heavily and some of that I accept because I know I could have done better.’
Lawrence added that he has been punished by being left out of the Six Nations.
‘Look, there have been some pretty clear consequences from my quarterfinal display. I’m not going to be refereeing Six Nations next year, they can say that means I’m rested but in reality I accept that one of the consequences of my performance is that I’m not going to be doing Six Nations.
‘That’s disappointing from a personal level but also something that I probably support. Referees often get criticised and not held accountable – well I’m clearly being held accountable I’m not refereeing Six Nations.’
Meanwhile, Sanzar CEO Greg Peters told Eyewitness News they have not expressed any concerns regarding Lawrence’s safety in South Africa. Peters explained that he consulted their legal advisors and said the Lawrence safety saga has not been discussed within Sanzar.
395 Comments
Pages: « 1 [2] 3 4 5 6 7 8 » Show All
16 Nov 2011, 08:39 am
@Hurricane(Hurricane)-40: Surely you realize, as you type your comment, the complete folly of your logic. The ONLY reason we couldn’t win despite a majority of possession and territory was because of a wally with a whistle. That’s what makes the whole thing so bitter to accept.
16 Nov 2011, 08:39 am
@Hurricane(Hurricane)-40:
Don’t be ignorant.
The opportunities we had to score points, Lawrence allowed Pocock to infringe without penalizing him.
Whether we scored a try or not shouldn’t matter. We weren’t given penalties when we should have been.
The rules are there for a reason, and Lawrence didn’t enforce them properly.
16 Nov 2011, 08:40 am
Mshiniwam can take him to the hood.
16 Nov 2011, 08:41 am
Loving this fear the cretin has of all things South African.
It’s high time that the sheepshaggers got some healthy respect for us again.
Time to start kicking Australasian arse and taking names again. No mercy. It should follow through all the way to the Super 15 and Tri-nations…..moer hulle.
16 Nov 2011, 08:41 am
@grant10(grant10)-29:
I see you fell for the 7 wonders ‘scam’… why does that not surprise me… bwahaha!
16 Nov 2011, 08:41 am
@>^..^< katman(katman)-51:
@hendrikp(hendrikp)-52:
So you telling me there was no chance in any part of that game to go for a drop kick?
If you can seriously say there wasnt then lets leave it at that.
16 Nov 2011, 08:42 am
@>^..^< katman(katman)-51:
He can’t see the logic.
How the F are you supposed to score points, when whenever you threaten the line, the Australians get away with whatever they like at rucks.
It matters sweet f-all if you have 70% territory, when everytime you are on their line you lose the ball to a hand in the ruck or a player not being released in the tackle.
Australia should’ve been penalized and a few players yellow carded. Didn’t happen. Bryce Lawrence deserves to be fired, not rewarded.
16 Nov 2011, 08:42 am
@Hurricane(Hurricane)-40: whats up, changing your tune now after Bryce has admitted that he didn’t ref the game to the rules.
16 Nov 2011, 08:42 am
@Dusky(Dusky)-43:
Of course we adore Lawrence, he was so much cheaper than what Craig charged.
16 Nov 2011, 08:44 am
@Hurricane(Hurricane)-56:
There was, and we also slotted 1.
That’s hardly the point. What you’re saying is: It doesn’t matter if the referee farked up, because you didn’t try a drop goal. Do you know how silly that sounds?
16 Nov 2011, 08:44 am
@hendrikp(hendrikp)-57:
It is called having a second string to your bow besides bashing and crashing.
Actually SA did that, but were so ill prepared and inexperiences they pushed passes and subsequently bombed certain tries.
16 Nov 2011, 08:45 am
@stew(stew)-47: it wasnt a forward pass stew.
it came off th saders player. there is video evidence to support this.
whereas kiwis like to whine about single incidents like the 2007 1/4 fwd pass by he frogs, they like to ignore facts like their own fwd pass in the same game try by mccalister). either way, these are isolated decisions as opposed to entire reffing performances from games start to games end.
bryce is a loser, this little whine just shows the whole world how pathetic he is:
“its all about me, i feel threatened boo hoo, i feel dissapointed in myself boo hoo etc etc etc”
but NOT ON apology. Not one acknowledgement that the players who trained for four years to be in that game may feel dissapointed too?
how could he understand what they feel? he is a ****, simples. but i wouldnt harm him, let him wander around with his own demons for making choices in life.
16 Nov 2011, 08:45 am
I can imagine how the Kiwi’s must be feeling after defending Bryce’s pathetic performance, only for Bryce to come out 6 weeks later and admit how pathetic he actually was. LOL
16 Nov 2011, 08:46 am
@stew(stew)-47: You’re comparing one forward pass with a systematic, 80 minute long hammering.
Bryce only fcked one team over, all game long. And the IRB and Bryce have pretty much admitted this. Isn’t it time you do the same?
16 Nov 2011, 08:46 am
@hendrikp(hendrikp)-57:
Out of it all your the one thats struggling with logic. PLease answer the question.
One drop kick from the best kicker in the world,tell me he didnt have the chance to do it and i will lay off.
@Kea-Cat(KEA)-58:
Not once did i say he reffed great, not once so off with you and find my post that said that.
But the same tune i have been playing is the same one we got in 2007….where was the drop kick?
Refs wasnt playing the same game so where was the drop kick. Shame how none of you can answer this except for the 2 uptop saying they never had a chance….. which we know is a lie
16 Nov 2011, 08:49 am
@Hurricane(Hurricane)-46: Let us try and remove the raw emotion from this Bryce Lawrence issue.
Prior to the start of the world cup, allegiances aside, I said that the All Blacks deserve a world cup. Over the period of time since they last won a title they have consistently been the cream of world rugby. Anyone disputing this, would be as blind as those disputing the fact that Bryce Lawrence definitely played a role in South Africa’s demise in this years world cup.
But, when all the chest beating has subsided – Wouldn’t it have been that much sweeter for the All Blacks had they beaten the Springboks in this years world cup ? We can never say whether Bryce had a role to play in the All Blacks victory because we never got to see the two teams matched against one another in this years world cup.
Disappointing if you ask me – not just for the Boks, but to an extent – for the All Blacks as well. For me, a slanted referee performance is almost as damning for the victors as the losers.
16 Nov 2011, 08:49 am
@Hurricane(Hurricane)-56: What use would a drop kick be in, say, the 7th or the 20th or the 36th minute? You’re talking about a kick to win the game, which surely only comes into play once you’re BEHIND. So instead of “any part of the game” you’re actually only talking about the final couple of minutes, right? Think, mate. That’s all I ask.
16 Nov 2011, 08:50 am
@Brads(Brads)-61:
Fair point, but again, if the rules were enforced, we would’ve won.
Do I really need to try find the footage of Schalk taking the ball up to the Australian try line, only for Australia to handle the ball on the ground, on South Africa’s side, right in front of Lawrence… and then him not doing anything about it?
It was a complete joke. Lawrence should do the right thing and quit refereeing any games involving SA sides. From here on out he’s no longer balanced. How can you be if you come out with all this **** about not feeling safe in South Africa. It’s bound to have an affect on his psyche heading into a game involving a SA side. He’s probably joining his daddy in calling us ‘dirty Jarpies’.
16 Nov 2011, 08:50 am
@rangerman(rangerman)-62:
Why would he want to apologise to a bunch of neanderthals with eye patches and dead batteries in their hearing aids?
It would be like urinating off the front of a boat that is travelling at 30 knots
16 Nov 2011, 08:51 am
@hendrikp(hendrikp)-60:
So you slotted one, was that enough was it?
Do you see how silly that sounds? We can all sit here and say, yes the ref bullsed it but i saw SA had chances to win it. Now dont kid yourself that SA didnt have the cahnce to go for the drop kick when as you have pointed out, they went for one and got it.
@>^..^< katman(katman)-64:
Watch the game again, your fukn blind. It was a world record of no penalties aor free kicks. We were on there line and the ball was slowed down illegally, hands in the ruck all sorts. French were getting away with it, not there fault but the refs. And our fault for not going for the points on offer, dosnt it sound familiar?
16 Nov 2011, 08:52 am
@Hurricane(Hurricane)-65:
IT DOESN’T MATTER IF THEY COULD HAVE TRIED FOR A DROP GOAL!!!
You’re saying it’s okay for Lawrence to referee the way he did, because we could have tried a drop goal. That’s just stupid. I mean really.
Do you understand?
16 Nov 2011, 08:53 am
@Great White Shark(Predawn)-54:
When are you going to show me your guns.
16 Nov 2011, 08:53 am
I must be honest I find BL’s honesty refreshing, although for the past few weeks I have wanted to throttle him, he has admitted he had a bad game, that happens in sports, nuff said! Time to move on, we were robbed but the Kiwi’s more than deserve to be world champions, good on them.
16 Nov 2011, 08:53 am
@>^..^< katman(katman)-67:
Listen the boks should have thought about it. After 60 mins we all saw it wasnt going there way with the ref. Now really they should have taken all points on offer,they didnt. Its the way i see it.
16 Nov 2011, 08:54 am
@>^..^< katman(katman)-67:
Well the other option would have been not to pull a player down in the lineout, 5 metres from your own line and gift a last minute penalty to lose the game.
16 Nov 2011, 08:54 am
@Hurricane(Hurricane)-70:
Hurricane. The rules weren’t enforced properly.
Meaning each side didn’t have an equal opportunity to win the game. We did enough, but weren’t awarded penalties that we should have been.
You’re saying it’s okay for one side to have favor from the referee, as long as they have an opportunity to win it. Doesn’t matter whether the refereeing was fair or not.
You’re the one who sounds silly my man.
16 Nov 2011, 08:56 am
The first game the Boks decide to play well, the ref kills them. So sad.
Or, it would be sad if the team hadn’t been so awful in the preceding two years. John Smit doesn’t have the right to be angry at Bryce when he himself did more to hurt the Boks’ chances than almost anyone else.
The Boks should have won that quarterfinal, could have won it if they had played better and made the selection choices that we were screaming out for. But I feel more sorry for the Welsh, who rightfully deserved to make the final but were pipped by an insipid French team and some of their own bad goalkicking.
16 Nov 2011, 08:56 am
@Brads(Brads)-75:
It’s official. Brads doesn’t know what he’s talking about. Can’t recall key moments in the game, so obviously can’t recall the infringements which should’ve led to penalties.
5 metres from our own line? Try 45m.
16 Nov 2011, 08:57 am
Here’s the main gist of the Kiwi logic when defending Bryce:
• You had lots of possession, so it doesn’t matter how much the ref cheated.
• You could have resorted to drop kicks, so it’s irrelevant that the ref was favouring the other team.
• We’re also unhappy about a ref from four years ago, making this ref’s performance acceptable.
I’m guessing New Zealand doesn’t offer up a ton of MENSA candidates.
16 Nov 2011, 08:57 am
@hendrikp(hendrikp)-71:
*** me are you a kid??
Show me where i said he reffed good or its ok for him to ref the way he did.
All i am saying i saw it wasnt going the boks way at the start of the second half. Look at the thread during the game. You will see complaints about the ref, which is fair and also people screaming for a drop kick or take the points…, now do you undferstand??
16 Nov 2011, 08:58 am
I think Bryce has been pretty honest.
The question is why he was selected to referee Australia again after the backlash against him from the Australians following the Australia v Ireland match.
That put him in a compromised position whereby he was afraid to make the calls he needed to. As much as Bryce is to blame, so too are the refereeing selectors, perhaps even more so.
At the end of the day he wasn’t ready for a WC QF, but he should never have been put in that position.
16 Nov 2011, 08:59 am
It’s easy to blame the individual. I am no fan of the guy but if you really want to get down to the problem in rugby union and refereeing I would suggest you guys read Dr. Ross Tucker’s piece he published about a month ago.
The problem is not the individual so much, it is the whole system and process of refereeing that needs looking into.
I will maintain, Bryce is not the problem. Get ‘rid’ of him through a stupid facebook petition and another ‘Bryce’ or ‘Paddy’ or ‘Stu’ or ‘Honiss’ or ‘Jonker’ or ‘Willie Roos’ will emerge.
16 Nov 2011, 09:00 am
@stew(stew)-47: I actually agree with most of what you are saying. The Bulls try was legitimate though. They really showed that several times, and the ball came off a Crusaders player. I am no Bulls fan, but I could see that.
I have always sympathized with the All Blacks and their fans for the quarter final debacle against France in 2007. That pass was definitely forward, and so I will admit the All Blacks were robbed.
BUT – in the same way, you must surely see that the Springboks were robbed this year. The mistake in 2007 doesn’t justify the ridiculous performance from Bryce Lawrence this year. To say that would be immature at best and not in the best interests of rugby as a whole.
This all said though – with the dominance the Boks had in all phases of that quarter final, we should have won by 20 points. We did butcher a few opportunities, which is our own fault.
16 Nov 2011, 09:00 am
@Brads(Brads)-69: ah, so we are neanderthals eh?
nice brads.
feeling a little tender about your no. 1 ref?
i think you should re asess your tone boy.
@Hurricane(Hurricane)-70: kuk man. ou know you are talking shite hurricane, and no, this thread is not about you or your precous all blacks, its about brycie the corrupt fkwit kiwi and his derailing of the boks which he has admitted to.
the all blacks are a wonderful team ok?
happy?
feeling less threatened?
good, lets discuss that **** byrce awrence and his even bigger p oes of a father now shall we?
16 Nov 2011, 09:00 am
Forget refereeing in SA, Lawrence should quit refereeing permanently. He’s just a rubbish referee. The only reason I can fathom that he made it to international level is because of his daddy, and also because New Zealand had to have at least one international ref. Paddy would’ve been severely embarrassed otherwise.
Most of you have probably already seen this, but its a good one. Hope this works. My workplace browser blocks it.
http://www.ougrote.com/2011/10/…/bryce-lawrences-refereeing-flowchart/
16 Nov 2011, 09:00 am
Don’t worry about the Kiwis, they’ll say anything to try to justify their gift World Cup, after a quarter century of failure it hurts them to know they still weren’t the best team when it counted and could only ever have ‘won’ that Cup with hometown choreography.
16 Nov 2011, 09:01 am
@>^..^< katman(katman)-79:
Again, obviuosly this is aimed at me.
Show me where i said it does not matter that the ref is poor?
Show me where i said its irrelevant the ref favoured the other team. I am not going on about the ref at all. I said he had a shocker right from the get go.
It really makes you post seem a bit silly really.
16 Nov 2011, 09:01 am
Bryce admits he had a less than perfect day at work in that QF.
That single admission, makes him a better human being than 96.27% of the whining sour whingers that inhabit The Republic of Sobbing Africa.
16 Nov 2011, 09:01 am
@Hurricane(Hurricane)-74: After 60 minutes? We were leading until a few minutes from the end. Why on earth would we be attempting match winning drop kicks at 60 minutes? THINK.
@Brads(Brads)-75: Seriously? Did you actually see the game? Because I watched that infringement over and over and I’m still gobsmacked. Far worse pulling down transgressions happen all game, every game and Bryce decides to blow Danie up for barely touching the opponent on the way down? I wonder why, considering the Aussies were a couple of points adrift and there were only a couple of minutes left.
16 Nov 2011, 09:01 am
@>^..^< katman(katman)-79:
16 Nov 2011, 09:02 am
@>^..^< katman(katman)-79:
Can’t recall a debating team while I was at school here either.
Seems they like to reserve the criticism of the referee for when they lose.
16 Nov 2011, 09:03 am
@Big Hit(Big Hit)-86:
All i know your team was no where near good enough. The boks were but not the english.
16 Nov 2011, 09:03 am
@Big Hit(Big Hit)-86:
LOSSSSSSSSER.
16 Nov 2011, 09:04 am
@Hurricane(Hurricane)-80:
You’re condoning it, simple as that.
16 Nov 2011, 09:04 am
@The Gloater – formerly cane(cane)-88: Easy when the cheque is already cashed.
16 Nov 2011, 09:04 am
@Hurricane(Hurricane)-80: Gotta agree, I think any rugby person will acknowledge that BL had a really bad game and that the boks were unlucky…..but the same people should also acknowledge that the Boks had enough chances to win the game and we blew it….we were robbed but not innocent. Personally I think the tournament was a good one, the most deserving team won at the end of it which is good for rugby (still get irritated with some of the kiwi’s who claim the boks finished 8th but that is another story)
16 Nov 2011, 09:04 am
Also, shout out to Wayne Barnes who despite numerous death threats and abuse returned to the land of the long black cloud to face the loonies and referee superbly. It’s the mark of a truly courageous man.
16 Nov 2011, 09:05 am
@>^..^< katman(katman)-89:
So are you saying that drop kicks are only for the last few minutes of the game or only when you are losing?
16 Nov 2011, 09:06 am
@>^..^< katman(katman)-79:
Nope
SA were leading and all the blame rests on Danie Rossouw
16 Nov 2011, 09:08 am
@Skeppie(Skeppie)-96:
Exactly
BL had a bad one, i have said that when the game ended.
But some on here are just blaming him and letting th Boks off for there lack of closing the game out.
Pages: « 1 [2] 3 4 5 6 7 8 » Show All
Have your say
You must be logged in to post a comment.