[2015 Super Rugby] Rebels vs. Bulls (Round 17) 06/06/2015

[TRF_heineken]

AAMI Park, Melbourne

07:00 CAT (SA, GMT+2)

Referee - Nick Briant

AR1 - James Leckie

AR2 - Michael Hogan

TMO - Ian Smith​

Teams

Rebels: 15 Mike Harris, 14 Dom Shipperley, 13 Tamati Ellison, 12 Mitch Inman, 11 Cam Crawford, 10 Jack Debreczeni, 9 Nic Stirzaker, 8 Scott Higginbotham (captain), 7 Colby Fainga'a, 6 Sean McMahon, 5 Lopeti Timani, 4 Luke Jones, 3 Paul Alo-Emile, 2 Pat Leafa, 1 Toby Smith

Substitutes: 16 Tom Sexton, 17 Cruze Ah-Nau, 18 Tim Metcher, 19 Sam Jeffries, 20 Jordy Reid, 21 Ben Meehan, 22 Bryce Hegarty, 23 Tom English

Bulls: 15 Jesse Kriel, 14 Francois Hougaard, 13 JJ Engelbrecht, 12 Burger Odendaal, 11 Travis Ismaiel, 10 Jacques-Louis Potgieter, 9 Rudy Paige, 8 Pierre Spies (captain), 7 Jacques du Plessis, 6 Lappies Labuschagne, 5 Victor Matfield, 4 Flip van der Merwe, 3 Marcel van der Merwe, 2 Callie Visagie, 1 Dean Greyling


Substitutes: 16 Jaco Visagie, 17 Trevor Nyakane, 18 Werner Kruger, 19 Grant Hattingh, 20 Arno Botha, 21 Tian Schoeman, 22 Bjorn Basson, 23 Jurgen Visser

 

[Car]

Does anyone know why it's on so early? That's unusual for matches in Australia and not ideal for viewers in South Africa (or Europe).

 

[goodNumber10]

think they do that each year, play an afternoon game to get kids along etc...

 

[TRF_heineken]

No Handre Pollard for the final game on tour.

Still a strong team though...

 

[InsaneAsylum]

Yeah the time is bizarre, we had all Friday night games last season and this season a combination of friday and saturday. Saturday night usually draws a bigger crowd. I think the afternoon time slot is to please people with kids. the time doesn't bother me either way, i'll be there for the last 2 home games.


The bulls will be looking to finish their tour strong after the loss to the Brumbies and the Rebels will be without Naivalu who broke his leg against the Sharks. Tamati Ellison is also still under an injury cloud I believe. Laurie Weeks is also out following the DuPlessis incident.

McGahan will probably play English and Crawford/Kingston on the wings with Inman and Shipperley in the centres again and Harris at FB. I would like to see Hegarty get some game time though, he was great when he came on against the Sharks, in fact Stirzaker, Hegarty and Higginbotham were the 3 who almost got us over the line.

 

[TRF_heineken]

Yeah the time is bizarre, we had all Friday night games last season and this season a combination of friday and saturday. Saturday night usually draws a bigger crowd. I think the afternoon time slot is to please people with kids. the time doesn't bother me either way, i'll be there for the last 2 home games.


The bulls will be looking to finish their tour strong after the loss to the Brumbies and the Rebels will be without Naivalu who broke his leg against the Sharks. Tamati Ellison is also still under an injury cloud I believe. Laurie Weeks is also out following the DuPlessis incident.

McGahan will probably play English and Crawford/Kingston on the wings with Inman and Shipperley in the centres again and Harris at FB. I would like to see Hegarty get some game time though, he was great when he came on against the Sharks, in fact Stirzaker, Hegarty and Higginbotham were the 3 who almost got us over the line.

I see Ellison will start...

 

[InsaneAsylum]

I see Ellison will start...

correct, coming back from a groin injury. I hope he lasts the distance because they bought him back against the reds and he lasted about 20 minutes which stuffed our backline and the reds dominated the game from that point forward.

English to the bench too so Crawford gets his second run. I really want to see him hit the same form as he did in 2013 with the Waratahs.

 

[SomeOke]

Wow.. AMI support staff strike again.

 

[RoosTah]

Rebels survive only just and thanks to pretty well all the 50-50 calls going their way. Happening a lot more in Super Rugby these days with the "home town ref" phenomenon ...

think they do that each year, play an afternoon game to get kids along etc...

Definitely a preference in Melbourne to have day games, so I'd say that's a factor.

 

[OhDannyBoy]

There is a crisis in officiating in rugby these days.

I'm in the 4th decade of my involvement in rugby, having played and supported the sport.

I'm losing faith and interest in the sport as a result of the pretty transparent "officiating" issues.
Sad days.

Yet another biased decision that is masquerading as a "poor" decision, and inevitably yet again it seems to happen to a South African side in Australasia.
Amazing that they still travel, and try pretend it's not happening.
Having said that, in fairness in recent times Australasian sides have also started to become victim to this now. A bit belatedly, but it's there.

What future is in this sport with such officiating, despite the technological tools given?

 

[RoosTah]

There is a crisis in officiating in rugby these days.

I'm in the 4th decade of my involvement in rugby, having played and supported the sport.

I'm losing faith and interest in the sport as a result of the pretty transparent "officiating" issues.
Sad days.

Yet another biased decision that is masquerading as a "poor" decision, and inevitably yet again it seems to happen to a South African side in Australasia.
Amazing that they still travel, and try pretend it's not happening.
Having said that, in fairness in recent times Australasian sides have also started to become victim to this now. A bit belatedly, but it's there.

What future is in this sport with such officiating, despite the technological tools given?

Indeed, watching Aussie sides in the Republic I often feel we're copping all the 50-50 calls and even a few that aren't even that in doubt. It's simply not working having home refs and they need to cut it out.

 

[TRF_heineken]

We wuz robbed!

 

[OhDannyBoy]

Indeed, watching Aussie sides in the Republic I often feel we're copping all the 50-50 calls and even a few that aren't even that in doubt. It's simply not working having home refs and they need to cut it out.

Regardless of where it happens, it's an ugly thing to witness.
I'm also wondering if referees should in fact have the leeway to ask a question in two different ways.

Although, I doubt that would have had an effect on some of the more blatant TMO shockers we've seen recently...

 

[OhDannyBoy]

Lot's of stink in the news about this, simply the latest in a long line of extremely questionable decisions.

People are basically calling it what it is, matchfixing.

 

[InsaneAsylum]

I was at the game and the TMO looked at it many times. After 5 minutes he ruled no clear grounding which is exactly what everyone saw on the screen. The Bulls got an attacking 5M scrum. Not the first time this has happened and wont be the last, it just hurts Bulls fans more because the game was decided by only a few points.

Have seen worse decisions this year.

 

[SomeOke]

I was at the game and the TMO looked at it many times. After 5 minutes he ruled no clear grounding which is exactly what everyone saw on the screen. The Bulls got an attacking 5M scrum. Not the first time this has happened and wont be the last, it just hurts Bulls fans more because the game was decided by only a few points.

Have seen worse decisions this year.

I hate to argue but even the Aussie commentators were flabbergasted it wasn't a try, that try would have gotten the Bulls a 5 point win as well and actually kept them in contention.

 

[InsaneAsylum]

I hate to argue but even the Aussie commentators were flabbergasted it wasn't a try, that try would have gotten the Bulls a 5 point win as well and actually kept them in contention.

That's assuming the Rebels didn't score again though

 

[TRF_heineken]

That's assuming the Rebels didn't score again though

True, but there wasn't much time left when that happened.

But that is beside the point. It was yet again a bad call where Aussie Ref/TMO was involved. It's clear that there is a problem with regards to knowing the laws, technical nuances, and the interpretation of some laws.

Are the TMO's tv's low-res or something in Oz??

 

[RoosTah]

True, but there wasn't much time left when that happened.

But that is beside the point. It was yet again a bad call where Aussie Ref/TMO was involved. It's clear that there is a problem with regards to knowing the laws, technical nuances, and the interpretation of some laws.

Are the TMO's tv's low-res or something in Oz??

Actually in a lot of cases they are from what I understand - in the NRL at least. That said this was at the brand spanking new AAMI Park stadium, so I'd have thought they'd have good tech.

Interestingly the NRL are now looking at a new NFL style command and control bunker for video referees at NRL HQ that will give video refs far greater autonomy in how they view replays. If it goes well hopefully Super Rugby will follow suit (although it's expensive and the NRL have quite a bit more cash than SANZAR).

 

[OhDannyBoy]

Kaplan: Referee calls embarrassing
2015-06-09 12:55

Cape Town - Retired South African Test referee Jonathan Kaplan says inconsistencies from officials are becoming embarrassing to the Super Rugby tournament.

Kaplan was commenting after the Bulls' 21-20 loss to the Rebels in Melbourne at the weekend.

Bulls inside centre Burger Odendaal crashed over the line for what appeared to be a perfectly legitimate try in the 61st minute.

New Zealand referee, Nick Briant, opted to refer the decision upstairs to the TMO, Australia's Ian Smith.

Somehow Smith found grounds to suggest there was enough doubt to rule it out - despite replays only appearing to confirm to most viewers that the try was fine.

Kaplan commented on the call via his website, www.ratetheref.co.za.

He wrote: "There was ANOTHER dodgy call from the match officials, one that could be argued had a direct impact not only on the result, but on the Bulls' outside chance of qualifying for the playoffs.

"In truth, they haven't been good enough at all this season and hardly deserve their spot, but neither did they deserve this apparent blunder of note. But I don't think this is about the Bulls at all…

"I'm not privy to the communication between the ref and TMO (Ian Smith of Australia) but I have tried to see why they wouldn't want to award this try and cannot see any reason for not awarding it.

"It is a poor call among many this year, and it is simply not good enough at this level. It is embarrassing for Super Rugby, one of the two premier provincial competitions in the world. And for rugby in general.

"How can this type of rampant incompetence and inconsistency be allowed to continue? It is a resource problem, a personnel problem, a coaching problem. Technology is here to stay but we need to get on top of it."

http://www.sport24.co.za/Rugby/Super15/Kaplan-Referee-calls-embarrassing-20150609