MARK KEOHANE, in his weekly Business Day column, says the biased officiating over the past weekend shows how far rugby has to go as professional sport.
Pat O'Connor's sending off for an alleged headbutt was monstrous in the context of the Bulls' 23-17 win against the Waratahs in Pretoria, and it was even bigger in the context of which of the two teams makes the Super Rugby play-offs.
The only thing is that O'Connor never headbutted anyone and was cleared by a judiciary of any wrongdoing.
At the time of the red card in the 67th minute the Tahs had clawed their way back from 20-6 to 20-17 and the team were playing with confidence and gaining momentum.
It was a shocking touch-judge decision but referee Craig Joubert had to be guided by the recommendation of his touch judge. Joubert must have cringed when he sent O'Connor off because the recommendation was everything but convincing.
Joubert asked the touch judge if he was sure because the offence was a red card. The touch judge stumbled his way through trying to convince himself he had in fact seen O'Connor deliberately leading with the head at a ruck cleanout. One look at a television replay confirmed the lock had done nothing illegal. Before O'Connor had sat down everyone knew the wrong decision had been made.
How, in a professional environment, with so much at stake, can such mistakes be made? Why does the referee not have the power to double-check the call with the television match official, given the enormity of the decision?
I was amazed that the incident did not rate a mention in the South African Sunday papers. Just imagine if the match was in Sydney and the bloke given his marching orders was Bakkies Botha?
An incompetent official, given too much influence and power, has potentially ended a team's season and there will be no consequence. It shows how far rugby still has to go as a professional sport.
In Bloemfontein, it was even worse with the officiating of Marius Jonker. That the Sharks beat the Cheetahs is brilliant for SA's Super Rugby challenge, but the obvious bias against the Cheetahs was disgusting.
I backed the Sharks to win but not by playing with 16 men. Jonker's refusal to yellow card a Sharks player for deliberately killing the quick recycling of the ball a metre from his own line defied belief.
It was cynical, it was deliberate and it was a no-brainer. The Sharks, at the time, were leading 16-11 and the entire complexion of the game would have changed with 15 Cheetahs playing 14 Sharks with 20 minutes to go.
There is no way Jonker would have been as lenient had the offending player been from New Zealand or Australia, and the charitable officiating encouraged more of the same from the Sharks, whose players will claim they simply played the situation and played the referee.
When Jonker did send two Sharks players off in quick succession there were three minutes left and the Cheetahs trailed by 12. It was nothing but an afterthought.
If you are from Durban you'll argue that the Sharks scrapped for every inch and deserved the victory. If you live in Bloemfontein you'll have an opposing view.
Again, where is the accountability? There isn't any because match officials are a protected species.
It left a sour taste because I wanted the Bulls and Sharks to win to increase the probability of having three South African teams in the top six play-offs, but not this way.
The Bulls may still miss out if they lose to the Stormers in Cape Town on Saturday and the Tahs don't lose again, and it could all still come down to the Bulls' final league match against the Sharks in Pretoria as to who makes the top six.
There are several possible permutations but the simplest way of ensuring a play-off position is to keep on winning, as the Stormers have done for the last three weekends in New Zealand and Australia.
The Reds' home defeat against the Brumbies was the shock of the weekend, although historically it was nothing new, with the Reds having won just twice in 18 Super Rugby starts against the Brumbies.
The Blues slipping up in Auckland against the Chiefs wasn't quite as dramatic as form has never dictated the outcome in this derby.
The results all favoured SA . If only the officiating hadn't been so obviously biased.
