A hoax email has been doing the rounds, suggesting that at least one Australian recognised that the Springboks were robbed in their defeat by Australia in the Rugby World Cup quarter final. Thanks to Ben, who pointed out the trick behind the email…
LIMITING THE POWER OF THE WHISTLE
There is 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
Latest news from the Rugby World Cup 2011
7 Comments
Couldn’t have said it better myself!
pity this is a hoax mail. There is no Chris Davis working for the Australian and The Australian never even published this. this was spammed out by some bok fan.
I agree with a few things though, but I can assure you that this is a south african view, not an ozzie one.
OMG!!!! This dooshbag can resign if he wants . . . it’s no help to us. We’re still paying the Bryce for his rubbish refereeing. Having said that . . . congratulations to the Aussies who did what they had to do, and defended like men possessed. Bryce you complete and utter pratt, we will never forget you.
Get over it, Bok supporters! You lost to a better team – full stop.
Better than a gang of homeless drunks lying on the pavement outside a liquor store! That’s about the only thing the Australian rugby team is better at. They don’t get close to the Boks.
Mike Murray… meh. Oz have a decent team, but they certainly weren’t better on the day. Just luckier. Still, we lost anyway.
Going to enjoy watching those yellow shirts get railroaded by black shirts this weekend though. I’m really gong to enjoy it. Really.
Still reeling about the injustice! Wish one of the Boks pundits or players would drop the political correctness and say exactly what they feel…we was robbed!