[2017 Super Rugby] Round 13: Stormers vs. Blues (19/05/2017)

[galumay]

Yep, probably a game the Bloos would have won with better refereeing, but then the really good sides take bad refs out of the game by scoring enough points.
The Stormers did look less brittle than they have this season so far, the fans will take the 2 wins against Kiwi sides as evidence they are going pretty well, the reality check will come later!

Credit to the Stormers for taking the game up to the Blues.

 

[Ground We Won]

Can anyone remember an example of a backline player being yellow carded for being offside?

I thought I'd seen it all in the Cheetahs vs Highlanders game, but this took the cake.

Duffy gets a 2nd yellow for what he did, but Treeby stays on the park after a swinging arm to the head?

There needs to be an investigation into Highlanders and Blues match official(s).

These performances were an insult to the intelligence and to the integrity of the sport and competition and formal apologies should be issued from the officials to the franchises and players involved.

 

[Bruce_ma gooshvili]

The highlights suggest persistent fouling for the first yellow, which is a tough break but the ref did give me a little cause for concern (and I saw the highlights before reading any of this). Particularly the tap & go penalty for a Stormers try. The ref didnt appear to have indicated where the mark was but just let it run.

At least the Stormers competed and good that SBW looks to be heading in the right direction.

How did Senatla do? Was he physical enough? I'm. A huge sceptic of 7s players transitioning to XVs (except perhaps back row forwards and scrum halves) so a player of his calibre is an interesting test case.

 

[unrated]

How did Senatla do? Was he physical enough? I'm. A huge sceptic of 7s players transitioning to XVs (except perhaps back row forwards and scrum halves) so a player of his calibre is an interesting test case.

Senatla did well with what he was presented with. He did not get the ball on the wing many times but made some decent runs when he got the ball. At one point he stepped past 4 guys but then got smashed. Later in the game he went looking for work and started clearing rucks because the stormers kept playing through the middle. He wasn't very effective as a flanker though.


With enough time he can be in contention for a spot at the next World Cup.

 

[Nubiwan]

Can anyone remember an example of a backline player being yellow carded for being offside?

I thought I'd seen it all in the Cheetahs vs Highlanders game, but this took the cake.

Duffy gets a 2nd yellow for what he did, but Treeby stays on the park after a swinging arm to the head?

There needs to be an investigation into Highlanders and Blues match official(s).

These performances were an insult to the intelligence and to the integrity of the sport and competition and formal apologies should be issued from the officials to the franchises and players involved.

Literally watched the last 20 minutes, so cannot comment overall. As soon as I turned it on, just about, this is what I saw. Just prior to the red card incident, it occurred to me the stormers turned over on a player not releasing in the tackle. You see that go un penalized all the time for my liking. The stormers then countered down the flank. When Duffie (Duffy?) landed on top of the player, who was getting back on his feet by the way, I heard the ref talking to his linesman saying, "that's a second yellow for 14 and a red". Words to that effect. My immediate thought was WTF? The guy is actually looking for A reason to bin someone. The blues were a man down and effectively out of the contest. They certainly squared up with 14 men. The ref just left a bitter impression of taking care of the victory for the home side. Dubious at very best to myself as a neutral. I missed any previous incident, so can only judge what I saw. The post here seem to support my position.

 

[Nubiwan]

Literally watched the last 20 minutes, so cannot comment overall. As soon as I turned it on, just about, this is what I saw. Just prior to the red card incident, it occurred to me the stormers turned over on a player not releasing in the tackle. You see that go un penalized all the time for my liking. The stormers then countered down the flank. When Duffie (Duffy?) landed on top of the player, who was getting back on his feet by the way, I heard the ref talking to his linesman saying, "that's a second yellow for 14 and a red". Words to that effect. My immediate thought was WTF? The guy is actually looking for A reason to bin someone. The blues were a man down and effectively out of the contest. They certainly squared up with 14 men. The ref just left a bitter impression of taking care of the victory for the home side. Dubious at very best to myself as a neutral. I missed any previous incident, so can only judge what I saw. The post here seem to support my position.

I just watched the sequence again, and no way did the stormer release from tackle, was not supporting his own weight, which you see happen a fair bit anyway, despite the laws, but the resultant second yellow is plain ridiculous.

 

[The Jones Boy]

What nationality is the young referee?

 

[Caitlyn Jenner]

What nationality is the young referee?

South African

 

[The Jones Boy]

South African

Oh...

 

[Ground We Won]

South African

I'm glad this is getting more attention, because I was nearly booed of the boards the other week after my complaints from the Cheetahs game for something that was clear as day to me and in hindsight is now clear as day to others.

It's a shame. Because South Africa do have impartial good officials. They need to sack/warn the officials from the Highlanders and Blues fixtures and investigate them.

This is pure speculation; but I suspect the problem could run deeper and they have been asked or allowed to show bias because of the state of their rugby and I've heard rumours of corruption in their union(s).

What do the South African users make of it?

 

[SomeOke]

I honestly can't be unbiased here, but here's my take:
- Eben's yellow more than deserved.
- Duffie's first yellow was understandable.
- Second yellow very harsh.
- I re-watched the Leyds try and he looks like he was behind the mark.

The Blues overall definitely got the short end of the stick, but it perhaps wasn't quite as bad as people are suggesting.

 

[smartcooky]

I honestly can't be unbiased here, but here's my take:
- Eben's yellow more than deserved.
- Duffie's first yellow was understandable.
- Second yellow very harsh.
- I re-watched the Leyds try and he looks like he was behind the mark.

The Blues overall definitely got the short end of the stick, but it perhaps wasn't quite as bad as people are suggesting.

Leyds may have been near the mark when he caught the ball but he was at least 5m to the left and 3m back when he kicked the ball. He has to be behind the mark and "near" to it when he kicks the ball - in the Laws, "near" is defined as "within one metre". The try should have been disallowed.
Also, Shaun Treeby should have been Red carded... his tackle met the criteria (direct contact to the head with force). Has he been cited?

The second Yellow to Duffie was a crock of shiite. The Stormers player was getting to his feet and liable to be tackled so Duffie did nothing wrong.
Between van Heerden and Veldsman, they put up a very poor
display of officiating.. the worst we have seen this SR season IMO.

 

[Ground We Won]

I honestly can't be unbiased here, but here's my take:
- Eben's yellow more than deserved.
- Duffie's first yellow was understandable.
- Second yellow very harsh.
- I re-watched the Leyds try and he looks like he was behind the mark.

The Blues overall definitely got the short end of the stick, but it perhaps wasn't quite as bad as people are suggesting.

I think it is that bad, because this wasn't just a one of game it's happened in. It has happened in the Highlanders fixtures too.

 

[SomeOke]

No it's bad, Newlands has become a bit like Melbourne in the last couple years, at the very least the 2nd 3rd and 4th officials will be hostile.
I remember the games agaisnt the Tahs last year where some comical things were also allowed to happened.

I don't think it's quite as bad as people are suggesting is all I'm saying, other than the second yellow on Duffie (which was also extra unlucky because it happened to be his second), their weren't any calls I haven't seen before.

Quick taps are like line-out and scrum feeds, they generally don't get policed in the modern game. Especially when the player is behind the mark.

 

[Ground We Won]

In other words, you're saying the officiating is biased and just to expect that because it's the norm over there.

 

[unrated]

In other words, you're saying the officiating is biased and just to expect that because it's the norm over there.

You might not notice it but when South African teams play in New Zealand it always feels everything is against them. Refs are more strict and penalizes them more. We often see yellow cards. The bounce of the ball mostly favours NZ teams in NZ. Even NZ the commentators just find everything that is at fault in the SA team. I thought it's just South Africans that thought refereeing is biased in NZ.

But with claims that refs and TMOs are biased in South Africa we should maybe look at why this feels like it does for fans of the traveling team. It might be the home field advantage where the home fans puts pressure on the referee to make decisions in their favour. 30 00 people cheer for a decision in their teams favour. The ref must be influenced in some way.

I remember the Sharks va Crusaders game in Christchurch. Think it was 2014. It felt so unfair and was so ****** at the time. Bismarck du Plessis was red carded for a heavy tackle on Dan Carter and another player was also yellow carded earlier in the game. Sharks had to win that game with 14 players for most of the game. In that instance i started noticing how the games are biased to a degree in the country it is played.

 

[Ground We Won]

A way around it would be getting neutral officials. Australian referees to do South Africa vs NZ games, and South African referees to do, NZ vs Aus games.

The Japanese referee in the Force vs Highlanders gave one of the performances of the season lastnight and was a great example of what a neutral referee could offer.

 

[SomeOke]

Please don't punish us with Aussie refs...

Edit: That Japanese ref is just top notch.

 

[Durbanite]

Didn't see the match but watched the highlights, Leyds' tap was fishy. The first yellow was bad because there was no warning but I'm positive everyone here has seen someone binned for the team infringing 4 times on the line, the second yellow was unlucky but seriously guys, his hands don't get there and it's knees to the back, it's a yellow. Just because the player was held in the tackle doesn't mean you can get away with a dangerous tackle to put him down again only reason it's harsh is the prior yellow card. They should just bring neutral refs back, it worked fine before?

 

[saulan]

Generally I think the officiating at least in cross SA/NZ games in general regardless haven't been great, not just the ones refereed by South Africans. The first Stormers game had three tries in quick succession (pretty sure it was three, could have been two) which should have not have been tries, its just more noticeable when your side/nation is on the receiving end (not that I think any of the Stormers matches that had poor refereeing would have been won by the Stormers, but the poor officiating was there). SANZAAR had neutral referees in the past, but I'm not really sure what happened to that? Was it the logistics/cost of having a foreign referee or were there concerns over the quality of the refs. Does anyone know why they stopped this? @smartcooky ?