Proper respect for the ref should start with the IRB
Bryce Lawrence has announced his retirement from refereeing and he hasn’t gone quietly. Lawrence claims that South Africa and Australia blackballed him due to their resentment over his officiating at the Rugby World Cup.
Australia believed that Lawrence’s inability to adjudicate the scrummage cost them their match against Ireland in the pool stages. This wasn’t just a case of whingeing Aussies. A former English international prop analysed that game and agreed with much of what the Australians had to say.
Lawrence says that the fall-out from that match caused political pressure to be put on him ahead of the quarter-final between Australia and South Africa. As a result Lawrence admits that he bottled the big game.
He said: "I went into the quarter-final knowing it was a massive match and I didn’t want to overly influence the outcome. 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 [group] 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 with some people kicking up a massive stink. It probably made me freeze on the biggest stage.
“I was told I would be brought back in the middle of the year but they dropped me because of pressure from unions like Australia and South Africa behind the scenes and that is the reason for my career change – all because of one game."
In the immediate aftermath of that game, I disputed Paddy O’Brien’s previous claim that no World Cup match had ever been decided by a ref. I said that Lawrence had ignored the offside line and virtually every law relating to the breakdown. In short, the referee had made a complete hash of a huge match, South Africa would feel cheated and they had every right to complain.
Now we know why. It appears that Australia’s movers and shakers – and you have to think that John O’Neill was involved – were turning the screws. As a result of pressure Lawrence froze.
That tells you three things. He was never good enough in the first place. It was a woeful decision by the appointments panel given Australia’s stated misgivings. And the Southern Hemisphere has been interfering with refs for years, much to the detriment of the game.
I have little time for Lawrence as a ref. He is star struck by the likes of Richie McCaw and seems in love with the Crusaders. He has a habit of refereeing one side. He talks far, far too much. And he is absolutely clueless about the scrummage. The Lions will join Australia in the witness stand when it comes to that area of the game.
That is not to say that Lawrence has not been hard done by. The personal abuse that Lawrence received after the quarter-final was quite unacceptable and an employee would like to think he would be backed by his bosses. Instead Lawrence was left to dangle.
Lawrence’s claims about political pressure do resonate and should be investigated. The refs have a hard enough job already without union officials bringing undue pressure to bear. The players behave on the pitch with proper respect. The IRB should make sure that union employees behave the same way.
Posted under News & Opinions
7 months ago
Bryce was incompetent before the WC.. I don’t think he was ever a cheat. I have watched him ref many S15 games and there were times when my side (Stormers) got handed the game on a plate & others where they were on the wrong end of Mr Bryce’s stick. He simply is the wrong personality for the job. He tends to get caught up by the home crowds and wants to please them.
7 months ago
Please re read the last four paragraphs.
Though any official in the game is not beyond criticism, advice must come with authority.
When Wayne Smith talks to his players (or his staff) he would never use the sort of language which the third from last paragraph uses or implies…
And then the second sentence of the penultimate paragraph flies in the face of what was said in the previous paragraph.
Anyone who has any creditability in the game will not spend much time lambasting the referee…I don’t remember Wayne ever saying such a thing.
I hope this does not turn into a pros and cons debate about Bryce. More important is to work on improving refereeing standards and that starts with giving them their due respect.
I am afraid that too many commentators say the referee had a poor game. Few ever give them credit for a bad game.
7 months ago
Re reading that post, the last sentence means: Few ever give them credit for a bad game where they did well.
7 months ago
How much of this write up equally applies to Wayne Barnes c.2007? The IRB backed their man to the hilt in that instance but it seems they left a lamb to the slaughter in Bryce.
7 months ago
Barnes errors in that quarter-final for the ABs v France cost them the match and potentially a finals spot! you don’t see the NZRFU black ball Barnes over that incident!
7 months ago
@Alan – NZ still could have won, they just weren’t helped by an inexperienced ref that froze. Just like Sth Africa could have won in 2011 but weren’t helped by a politically influenced ref who also froze. It’s just that some fans will call one incident ‘choking’ and the other ‘robbery’ :-)
7 months ago
Lawrence was basically totally incompetent in reffing the scrum in the Lions 1st test in SA (as he later admitted to Vicary to whom he belatedly apologised) and his well publicised comments re Aus being beaten by SA were also unprofessional. Barnes reffed a perfectly competent Fr v NZ RWC game with the one exception of a missed marginal fwd pass which the TJ should have picked up. NZ lost purely through poor game management at 1st 5 after Carter’s replacement.
7 months ago
“Barnes reffed a perfectly competent Fr v NZ RWC game with the one exception of a missed marginal fwd pass”
@john shuttleworth
You are having a laugh. Name another match where a side:
- dominates 73% territory - wins 166 rucks to 42 - makes only 73 tackles vs 331
Yet, is not awarded a single penalty for the last 50min of an 80min match?
No Rugby team on earth would not infringe or concede at least 1 penalty when they have that much defending to do over the course of a match.
And blaming incompetent scrum calls on the 09 Lions demise is clutching at straws. Better chance of finding an answer by asking your countryman Ronan OG why tackling like a doormat (Fourie try) or conceding the winning penalty by kicking a garryowen to yourself in the 79min of a test within kicking range were good ideas.
7 months ago
Mark Reason your comment (quote), “And he is absolutely clueless about the scrummage”, is quite hard for me to fathom. I guess its either listening to a rugby scribe like yourself or a ref who has refereed a few games under his belt (even B.Lawrence). From an overall perspective, although I understand and accept that refrees will have a bad day or two in the office, I think it is totally unacceptable that officials and spectators take it that personal level.
7 months ago
Moaning about Lawrence’s previous performances and then having a pop at other referees is a pretty pointless exercise. What I find disappointing was his decision to proceed with refereeing the match after being subjected to such pressure by various parties. If he had refused to refereee citing intimidation he would have done every referee and the sport a huge favour. Bleating about it now discredits himself as well as the governing bodies. The big question is what will the governing bodies do going forward? Witholding the details of referee (other than North or Southern hemisphere) until 2 hours before the game is a good start.
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