CrapRefs.com

Australian Super 14 rugby referee Stu Dickinson had another of his typical, heavy whistle-blowing efforts on Friday night as he effectively sealed the Highanders’ fate by sending off their captain, Jimmy Cowan in Auckland.

Cowan is an aggressive player and the shot was dangerous, no question [ala Paul Quinn]. He deserved a yellow card – no question. But it didn’t warrant being sent off.

Cowan was getting frustrated with the Blues interfering tactics at the breakdown. Kurtis Haiu was a particular offender but wasn’t being picked up for it. Cowan pointed it out on several occasions to Dickinson but his earlier indiscretion had already seen him penalised so it seemed all Cowan was going to get was the standard “I’ll look at it.”

The Highlanders were not getting their share of 50/50 calls. Jimmy Cowan was doing his best to keep himself in the forefront of Dickinson’s mind but unfortunately, this only seemed to motivate the referee to give the maximum penalty for the late shot on Jimmy Gopperth getting a clearing kick away from behind the goal line.

Auckland are playing well – no question. The Southerners were going to need to get at least half of the 50/50 calls and possibly some luck as well to win this one but bottom line is that Dickinson negatively impacted the game and isn’t getting any better.