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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17 Oct 2012, 03:46 am
@Hurricane-397:
hehehe, yeah I come on here to get my ego strokked and make some friends……….
Dude, this is a faaaking tonge in cheek wind up site nothing more……..if you come here for anything more you are a sad fukka
17 Oct 2012, 04:29 am
@wallabie.-388:
Arrogant Ozzie i must say.
Do you watch rugby league??
Who has the World Cup in that??
Not you clowns…..we do .
The amount of money you guys throw around at all sports is amazing, you are all very lucky….but you still need talent.
By the way the two sports that get talked about on here is rugby and cricket.
How is Ozzie doing in those sports?
17 Oct 2012, 04:34 am
@Hurricane-402:
Dude, do you ever get laid?
You really need to blow off some steam, take a chill pill, life is not that serious….
17 Oct 2012, 04:38 am
@whatever-401:
Well i don’t come to this site to gain any intelligence.
The odd wind up is good but can get out of hand very quickly.
But the tongue in cheek call normally happens when someone says something they cant back up…..so resort to the ole i was only joking or tongue in cheek call.
17 Oct 2012, 04:40 am
@whatever-403:
If i didn’t know better you, it would seem you are coming onto me.
Auckland has tainted you.
BY the way this is how of blow of some steam
17 Oct 2012, 04:41 am
@whatever-400:
17 Oct 2012, 04:43 am
Did someone put something in the water? First it was HG and pops and now Whatever is making a pass at Hurri!!
Weird…
17 Oct 2012, 04:47 am
Best news I have heard in ages…
Johannesburg – The future of Free State Cheetahs coach Naka Drotske and his assistants is very much on the line when they face the EP Kings in Bloemfontein in their promotion-relegation match on Friday.
According to supersport.com website, but Drotske and co may not be the only ones who come under the spotlight, as a much wider-reaching “cleanout” is on the cards if the Cheetahs do not stay in the Premier division of Absa Currie Cup rugby and lose to the Kings.
While there is a lot of pressure on Drotske and his team this week, it has been compounded by talk in Bloemfontein of “heads rolling” if the Cheetahs lose.
Free State Rugby Union President Lyndsey Mould told Die Volksblad that he would launch an investigation as early as next week into why the Cheetahs were in this position. “If we beat the EP Kings on Friday or not, I want to get all the decisionmakers together and if we have to act aggressively, we will do that,” Mould told the newspaper.
“A lot of things have gone wrong this season and we have played without a number of our stalwarts, but that is no excuse. There simply isn’t any excuse.”
The Cheetahs have thus far stuck by coach Drotske, even though he has never managed to finish higher than 10th in the Vodacom Super Rugby series and their last Currie Cup success was in 2007.
The team is also playing in their first promotion-relegation game since 1988, and a loss would be devastating to the union.
“If we are to be relegated, it will have major consequences for the Free State Rugby Union. We will lose sponsorships and that will mean that everybody’s jobs will be on the line. Friday night is all that the players and management must focus on, nothing else.”
17 Oct 2012, 04:47 am
@Slartibartfast-407:
hehe
See no international rugby and look what happens.
17 Oct 2012, 04:50 am
@Hurricane-409:
Hey, I have NEVER been THAT bored!!!!
17 Oct 2012, 04:50 am
usually when someone retires its a sad occasion ….in this case however i have never been happier to see someone go !
Infact he should be charged with bringing the game into disrepute with his shambolic refereeing . NO Bryce it wasn’t “because of that one game” you’ve had several shockers and you “normally” deliver at most below par.
But I don’t get how a bad referee can be a reviewer for other refs and also while we cant say for certain that the bok would have beaten the Abs at the world cup they were the only team that would have come close and you made sure that would happen so with that i say good riddance
17 Oct 2012, 04:55 am
No just a genuine concern that Hurri was going to blow a “foffie” valve…..
He’s been gaining momentum for awhile now….. we don’t want two poppadoos’s!!
17 Oct 2012, 04:56 am
@boktillzero-411:
“But I don’t get how a bad referee can be a reviewer for other refs”
Yep, i don’t get it either. What is it Bryce and NZRU?
Just let the guy go. He has had some awful games, SA have been on the good side on a couple of those, which of course does not make it good at all.
He is a bad ref, so cant grasp how is he going to review other refs
17 Oct 2012, 04:57 am
@Slartibartfast-408:
Koos, you want naka to go?
17 Oct 2012, 05:00 am
@whatever-412:
why thank you for the concern.
If i can handle two complaining whinging always right teenage daughters then i am well and truly seasoned. A couple of whinging harmless South Africans is a bliss. You guy wont make me blow a valve…….but dont make me angry, you wont like me when i am angry
17 Oct 2012, 05:02 am
@Hurricane-415:
Jeez, I saw some smoke there in the post to Walla…………
17 Oct 2012, 05:04 am
@whatever-416:
lol
That was me warming up dude
Come on though , how silly too say NZ and SA have no other national teams that make the world stage instead of rugby.
17 Oct 2012, 05:06 am
@Hurricane-417:
As I said Hurri, this is a wind up blogg
He’s probably p issing himself right now……….
17 Oct 2012, 05:11 am
@whatever-418:
More like hes p issed, drunk a$$ ozzie
17 Oct 2012, 05:31 am
@whatever-414:
Naka is the cancer keeping the Cheetahs average, him and his sugar daddy Harold. We will be so much better with both of them out of the picture.
@Hurricane-419:
Walla is as much an Aussie as Whatever is a Kiwi…just so you know!
17 Oct 2012, 05:34 am
@Hurricane-415:
How do you manage, I have one and it gets the better of me some days?
PS Teenage boy and not girl and the little **** is a head taller than me these days…
17 Oct 2012, 05:36 am
@Hurricane-413:
its the “old boys club” kicking in i guess , i used to think nepotism,cronyism and that sort of thing was a 3rd world trait but when i lived in NZ and in Aus it was very rife and almost the norm . Ive got no problem if the individual is doing a good job but in this case its mind boggling.
Oh well hopefully we get to see more of the likes of Glen Jackson coming up
17 Oct 2012, 05:46 am
@Slartibartfast-420:
OH i didn’t know, thanks Koos
@Slartibartfast-421:
hehehe
Sometimes they keep me on my feet.
I just do the ole….ask ya mum
17 Oct 2012, 07:31 am
@Hurricane-413: “he’s a bad ref, balh balh”
….didn’t Bryce get the NZRU ref of the year award at the end of 2011?
how does that work exactly?
17 Oct 2012, 07:32 am
… those are “blahs” btw
17 Oct 2012, 07:35 am
@j59-424:
Even Reechee had a go at the palooka a week ago. Um, you were saying…
17 Oct 2012, 07:38 am
@j59-424:
Good question, care to try and answer it?
17 Oct 2012, 07:39 am
@Predawn-426: maybe guys who select the award winners were having a “Bryce” day
…or….?
17 Oct 2012, 07:49 am
Oh yawn, it’s all so predictable.
First they whinged and whined until POB “disappeared”.
Then it was Stuart Dickenson’s turn.
Followed by Brycie boy.
Who’s next?
Easy.
The next one who’s perceived to have an “agenda” against their beloved Springboks, that’s who.
17 Oct 2012, 07:53 am
When the Kiwis voice their anger at their own refs in the press…you just know that the oke must be a drol.
17 Oct 2012, 07:54 am
9 October 2011: Bryce Lawrence referees the Rugby World Cup quarterfinal between South African and Australia. South Africa lose 11-9.
November 2011: Lawrence is told by the IRB that he will get a break from Test rugby for the Six Nations 2012.
2 December 2011: Lawrence is appointed New Zealand referee of the year.
24 January 2012: Lawrence is given a refereeing schedule for the the 2012 Super 15, revealing that he has no games in South Africa.
25 July 2012: Lyndon Bray, SANZAR head of referees, confirms that the IRB has removed Lawrence from its elite panel of referees for future test matches.
16 October 2012: Lawrenc announces his retirement as a referee.
17 Oct 2012, 08:08 am
@WP-Forever-431: Peace prize next??
@Predawn-430: more than a drol, I think
…I’ll never foget Pocock leaning over into the ruck and handling the ball, whilst looking up at Bryce, who looked back at him
17 Oct 2012, 08:19 am
@j59-432:
Hehehe.
17 Oct 2012, 08:33 am
@j59-424:
Do you have speech problems??
Fact is NZRU picked the ref of the year, not the fans.
I have said he was bad, what more do you want?
17 Oct 2012, 08:52 am
@j59-432:
When their eyes locked, it was clear that Pocock had a date with a certain referee in the showers after the game for some much needed payback.
17 Oct 2012, 12:44 pm
Disgusting that the behaviour of one nation has reduced a person to give up his career.
Where there is no shame, there is no honor.
17 Oct 2012, 12:51 pm
@The Donkeys Egg-436:
Go fist yourself Blackpants.
The man is a craven ************.
And so are you.
17 Oct 2012, 12:59 pm
@gunther-437:
The man is a craven nice guy and so are you??
Gunther has turned a corner,no more Mr ugly ….hiphip horay
17 Oct 2012, 13:01 pm
@The Donkeys Egg-436: Cry me a river. Did you go through similar amounts of tissues for Hansie Cronje and Lance Armstrong too?
The only thing that “reduced him to give up his career” is his decision to bow to pressure from rugby administrators and countries (by his own admission).
Stepping down is him getting off lightly. A full investigation with consequences is what’s called for here.
17 Oct 2012, 13:15 pm
@The Donkeys Egg-436: he gave up because he has no balls and no one wants to be associated with a cheat so appointments dried up.
whattapussy.
17 Oct 2012, 13:20 pm
@rangerman-440:
lol
oh you forgot the little point that over a million poeple in SA wanted him dead and his family hung…… it is a minor detail but still relevant.
17 Oct 2012, 13:27 pm
@Hurricane-441: Didn’t your lot want the same for Barnsey and his kin? The words “death threat” ring very loud bells here.
17 Oct 2012, 13:28 pm
Zero tolearnce for cheats in any bloody sport
Farken criminals man….
17 Oct 2012, 13:30 pm
Sport across the board is being tainted …..
IRB must clean this up ……bull s hit charade wasting my money on bloody rigged results….
17 Oct 2012, 13:34 pm
@katman-442:
….just kidding.
hehe but we were only joking….gosh.
I believe it we didnt go right into his family and left the facebook page out of it.
Mind you i believe there were some voodoo dolls of barnes
17 Oct 2012, 13:37 pm
@grant10-444:
Grant,i think its been happening for a while in the RWC.
In most of the RWC there have been some really odd and clearly strange results.
Scrap the RWC and lets get back into the real games.
Man vs Man….3 tests and tours playing national club sides.
17 Oct 2012, 13:40 pm
@Hurricane-445: What a joke. So Facebook is off limits? Who makes these rules about acceptable and non acceptable media for death threats? I’d be interested to read the full list of do’s and don’ts.
If Facebook was as big in 2007 as it is now, there would have been an anti-Barnes page.
17 Oct 2012, 13:45 pm
@Hurricane-446: Disgusting if Refs are being either paid off or manipulated by the Suits…..
No honour anymore ! These guys must be found out and kicked out!
17 Oct 2012, 13:51 pm
@katman-447:
Even though i was having a laugh…looks like Mr Serious face katman has joined the discussion.
And have we find the culprit that made the facebook page?
Wasnt you was it Kat?
It seems threats to refs is ok now??
Yet we were laughed at in 2007. What has changed?
17 Oct 2012, 13:55 pm
@grant10-448:
Grant, if it is in rugby then the RWC needs to be scraped honestly.
Really Bryce has highlighted something. A player/coach or even CEO of a rugby union should not be allowed to talk to or get in contact with a ref leading upto a game. Not even with in the week.
Bryce said that other countries as well had there say about the match…..this is so wrong and needs to be stopped.
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