Bryce hangs up whistle
16 Oct 2012
New Zealand referee Bryce Lawrence has retired after officiating his 200th first-class match.
Lawrence, who faced mass criticism from the South African rugby fraternity after his poor performance during the Wallabies’ victory over the Springboks in the 2011 World Cup quarter-finals, became the fourth Kiwi official to reach the 200-match mark. He follows Paddy O’Brien (221 matches), Paul Honiss (220) and Steve Walsh (210).
Lawrence also refereed 25 Tests and 60 Super Rugby games.
He told the Bay of Plenty Times that he was forced into retirement because of the threats he received after the World Cup.
‘It got pretty bad,’ said Lawrence. \Not really threats on my family as such, there was a concern, but it was mainly aimed at me through social media. On Facebook they launched a ‘get rid of Bryce Lawrence’ site and it was pretty nasty.
‘That was absolutely the reason for my career change. I got told at the end of the World Cup that I would have a break from Test rugby for the Six Nations and I could totally accept that as there has to be a consequence for poor performance.
‘I was told I would be brought back in the middle of this year, as I was ranked in the top three or four referees in the world. But because of the political reaction from rugby unions like Australia and South Africa behind the scenes, they dropped me.
‘Sanzar used me but not in South Africa, so eventually they said it was getting tough having you in the draw, because we have to keep making changes to keep you in the system when you are not going to South Africa, so see you later. So I knew I was not able to referee at the level I needed to be re-contracted, really – all because of that one game.’
Lawrence also admitted that there was outside influence going into the Wallabies-Springbok quarter-final clash.
‘I went into the game knowing it was a massive match and I didn’t want to overly influence the outcome and that was in the back of my mind. The way that transpired was I didn’t make decisions and if I had my time again I would just go out there and do what I normally do, which is just referee and back myself.
‘I had four really good games at the World Cup and then I had that. I had outside pressure from pretty senior people from rugby countries behind the scenes that really created my mindset of lacking confidence to deliver what I normally do.
‘There was some pretty nasty political stuff going on about that appointment. I refereed Australia versus Ireland and Ireland had won but behind the scenes guys like [Australian CEO] John O’Neill were kicking up a massive stink. I knew a bit about that and it was enough to affect me, and it probably made me freeze on the biggest stage.’
Lawrence take on a new post as the NZRU High Performance referee reviewer.
Kiwi referees Vinny Munro and Keith Brown will also retire at the end of the New Zealand Cup.
576 Comments
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16 Oct 2012, 14:58 pm
Just as we’ll you had a shocker otherwise SA would have gone on and won the WC, that’s how good they are – thanks Bryce you saved us.
16 Oct 2012, 15:00 pm
@NZINCHINA-1:
Finally, an honest Kiwi.
16 Oct 2012, 15:04 pm
ja.
the sad news is thast he will be mentoring crooked kiwi refs of the future.
so nothing new really.
16 Oct 2012, 15:05 pm
Ha yip you would have broken your 300 year hoodoo at the garden of Eden (hardest place on the planet to win a test match) and beaten the best team in the world at home.
16 Oct 2012, 15:09 pm
200 games too late……….
16 Oct 2012, 15:09 pm
Funny guy you can’t generalize like that, can we also say then that all South African cricket captains are bent like Hansie?
16 Oct 2012, 15:12 pm
What I found interesting is the pressure he says he received from O’Neil. Thank god he’e also out.
16 Oct 2012, 15:13 pm
Garet, what’s a Whitsle?
16 Oct 2012, 15:14 pm
Diddums the pressure I received.
You should grow a pair like Barnsey.
16 Oct 2012, 15:14 pm
fark him!
why is he acting like a victim of clandestine machinations when he actually was just too p.ussy to ref straight?
warren gatland was actually right about john o’neill and how the stink affected decisions.
16 Oct 2012, 15:17 pm
Come now Gerty said the same thing in 76′, hometown pressure got to him and he folded, should he also have grown a pair?
16 Oct 2012, 15:18 pm
@Transformation-10:
no backbone.
he couldn’t handle the prospect of another holborselling from O’Neil.
16 Oct 2012, 15:20 pm
O’Neils been shafting the SARFU for years ( and laughing about it) , he’s a tough customer.
16 Oct 2012, 15:21 pm
@NZINCHINA-11: That’s one little urban legend that seems to grow and grow the more you tell it. Whereas Bryce’s admission is here for all to see.
16 Oct 2012, 15:23 pm
@katman-14:
Urban legend I think not rewatch the tape and listen to your own commentators
16 Oct 2012, 15:24 pm
Poor Brycie sounds terrified out of his wits. Crazy O’Neil on the one side, angry Afrikaners on the other. Let’s hope they can find space for him and his parents in the Jehovah’s Witness Protection Programme.
16 Oct 2012, 15:24 pm
I am getting sick of Kiwi refs.
They should not be allowed to officiate in any test matches whatsoever.
16 Oct 2012, 15:24 pm
@NZINCHINA-15: The tape? Mate, you’re going to have to lend me yours, along with your betamax casette machine.
16 Oct 2012, 15:26 pm
@willievz-17:
Willie we never got to talk after the Soccer city match were you avoiding me?
16 Oct 2012, 15:28 pm
@katman-18:
I’m sure if you we’re really interested you could find a copy somewhere.
16 Oct 2012, 15:31 pm
There IS a God.
16 Oct 2012, 15:31 pm
Things is Katman most Nzers are happy to concede Bryce had a shocker but only 1 Saffer on this blog has ever said Gerty had a shocker, why is that?
16 Oct 2012, 15:35 pm
@katman-16:
Don’t fret.
Bent Paddy will sort him out.
16 Oct 2012, 15:36 pm
@NZINCHINA-22:
Because we won. Why else do you think. Really, how naive can you be.
16 Oct 2012, 15:37 pm
Good riddance worthless, cheating, sheep f$%king, c#nt.
I hope you take up a hobby of ‘car dodging’ on a busy road.
Bryce was born to help the Kiwi’s win a world cup again. Took some time, but eventually he ended up in a position to ease their route to the final, and damn….they nearly choked on the final hurdle yet again. Home ground advantage saw them home.
16 Oct 2012, 15:38 pm
Paddy gone now funny guy, one less excuse you can use. Paddy gone, travel gone due to the Argies, PDV gone, nothing else left but to concede.
16 Oct 2012, 15:38 pm
@NZINCHINA-20: Ja boet, it’s an urban legend. Making me hunt down a gazilion year old game’s post-match interview to prove otherwise is about as sensible as Bryce’s law interpretation.
16 Oct 2012, 15:39 pm
@NZINCHINA-22: Brycegate happened last year. Remind us when Gerty supposedly confessed?
16 Oct 2012, 15:40 pm
@Dusky-25:
Home ground advantage counts for nothing we thumped you at your house just a few days ago
16 Oct 2012, 15:41 pm
Now the plonker will never be able to repay his debts!!!!!!!
16 Oct 2012, 15:41 pm
@katman-16: I tell you little Bryce will get his backside handed to him in SA. Seriously. He just needs to walk into the wrong place in Joburg or Pretoria and I think there are South Africans that would actually f$ck him up.
I know if I found him somewhere I would at least say something to him. If he got cocky I wouldn’t mind giving him a klap. It would be my pleasure. He just has a ‘kick me in the head’ look about him. Must be the kiwi genes.
He knows he is public enemy in SA.
16 Oct 2012, 15:41 pm
@NZINCHINA-29: Not in a world cup.
16 Oct 2012, 15:43 pm
@katman-27:
Come know Katman you are a student of the game we both know when and what happened
16 Oct 2012, 15:43 pm
This was the Springbok team on the day:
1. Steenkamp 2. Smit 3. Du Plessis 4. Rossouw 5. Matfield 6. Brussow 7. Burger 8. Spies 9. Du Preez 10. Steyn 11. Habana 12. De Villiers 13. Fourie 14. Pieterson 15. Lambie
16. Du Plessis 17. Van Der Linde 18. Alberts 19. Louw 20. Hougaard 21. James 22. Aplon
Yes, Schalk Burger tried to run the ball from a lineout on the Bok’s tryline and got snagged.
Yes, Fourie Du Preez dropped the ball before dotting the ball down for a try.
Both big moments.
But Vickerman’s cheap shot on Brussow which ended Heinrich’s time on the pitch and Lawrence’s absolute ineffectiveness were even bigger issues in the greater context of the game.
Boks had found a rich vein of form and PDV and co were finally getting the balance of the 22 right.
SA lost Bakkies early in the comp and losing Frans Steyn to injury was a big blow, but the bench players were being used to devastating effect.
Considering how close France pushed the ABs, it would have been interesting to watch an AB-Bok final.
But it wasn’t to be.
At the end of the day, the Boks had to pack up and go home.
Can you imagine how bitter those players must have felt in the change room, especially the ones who had played their last game for the Springboks?
16 Oct 2012, 15:43 pm
@NZINCHINA-29: And I wasn’t talking about us you stupid knuckle dragging kiwi neanderthal. I was talking about your lot of cavemen nearly losing to France. France who got beaten twice in the pool stages.
Would have been the laugh of the century. The ‘super choke’.
16 Oct 2012, 15:45 pm
@katman-27:
nothing sensible about our noodleboy.
16 Oct 2012, 15:47 pm
Tells you something about the island dwelling neanderthals if he was given a break due to poor performance, but awarded the Kiwi ref of the year award. This lot are either extremely dumb or completely unapologetic for their cheating.
16 Oct 2012, 15:47 pm
@NZINCHINA-22:
Because Bryce had a shocker and Gert not
16 Oct 2012, 15:47 pm
@Dusky-32:
Don’t be silly Dusky we own your arse at the moment home or away
16 Oct 2012, 15:49 pm
@NZINCHINA-39: Hardly surprising that you can’t read and have zero cognitive ability. I mean you knuckle draggers still drag your women around by their hair right ?
16 Oct 2012, 15:51 pm
@Dusky-35:
That’s ok Dusky you beat the Welsh by one point and got a second half schooling from the minnows Samoa, we can continue this debate but right now as world rugby stands you’ll lose.
16 Oct 2012, 15:51 pm
nz ref of the year.
then dumped ou in the cold once his usefulness was over.
son of the filth who wrote “lets get thew japies”
sounds to me that brycie was expecting a bit more protection after his cheating ways and the kiwis couldnt handle the heat so they sacrified him.
good riddance cheat.
16 Oct 2012, 15:52 pm
@puff-34: “Yes, Schalk Burger tried to run the ball from a lineout on the Bok’s tryline and got snagged.”
the ball burger took up wasn’t “snagged”, it was KICKED from the side of the ruck by Pocock! entered from the left behind brussow and kicked it into either Samo or Horwill’s hands!
that was the beginning of the end, the doos says he was paralysed from making decisions by political stuff!
the insult is that the NZRU named him Ref of the Year after that kak!
farking keewees!
16 Oct 2012, 15:55 pm
@NZINCHINA-41: yes yes you guys beat us well done.
we are discussing your cheating spineless jellyfish of a ref of the year however so if you take credid for the abs then we demand an apology from you for bryce.
be the big man no china, i am waiting……
16 Oct 2012, 15:55 pm
@NZINCHINA-39: Everyone will remember the 2011 world cup for how NZ cheated. Let the cavemen believe they won fair and square.
16 Oct 2012, 15:57 pm
@rangerman-44:
Ranger I’ve said many times Bryce had a shocker, now can you come clean re Gerty?
16 Oct 2012, 15:58 pm
@NZINCHINA-41: Only in your mind. Everyone knows what New Zealand pulled to win the 2011 world cup. Its only on earthquake island that the knuckle draggers believe they won it for real.
16 Oct 2012, 15:59 pm
“whitsle” – ?
Well he had done his job for NZRU, and Im sure he got a nice pension.
Unfortunately there will just be some new incompetent to take his place.
16 Oct 2012, 15:59 pm
@Transformation-43: funny, up until that rwc the boks under pdv had almost level pegged with the kiwis and beaten them twice in nz.
we were the biggest threat and bryce cheating lawrence is basically admitting being put under enormous pressure before the game?
the kiwis make him ref of the year after this?
its a smoking gun and proves that at least some of bakkies rants are justified.
16 Oct 2012, 15:59 pm
Funny thing is many of you believe you actually would have gone on and won the WC after beating Wales by 1 point and just beating the minnows. Expectations way too high, Soccer City the perfect example of that.
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