CrapRefs.com

Athletic England lock Courtney Lawes received a 2-match ban for sliding in with his knees into Argentine Hooker Mario Ledesma in their opening world cup match in Dunedin. This seems fair to me. Firstly, the tackle on Argentine centre Gonzalo Tiesi was not late in terms of the rules - Lawes was clearly committed and even [...]

Australian coach Robbie Deans is an astute operator. His scrum has been under extreme pressure during their European tour and he has been on the offensive to try and deflect attention but it seems his pleas for leniency from referees hasn’t worked. Claims of unfair treatment were lost on Bryce Lawrence Prop Ben Robinson was [...]

[This one's been done to death I know but I had drafted the following without publishing it but meaning to. Given the subsequent discussion on the About page - I'll post it now anyway if for no other reason than to have at least one embarrassed Kiwi call it like it is] This was weird [...]

A careful examination of the scrum exchanges in the first half of the first test shows that the Springbok loose head prop was pushing upwards and inwards at every opportunity. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not sore on Mtawarira. In fact, as an ex-prop, I applaud his tactics in the vain of ‘if you can [...]

He wasn’t even on the field for the 3rd test but he had an influence on the game – this time as the TMO denying a try to Springbok flyer, Odwa Ndungane which looked like it should have been awarded. Even the Times thought it was a ‘perfectly good try’. The reaction of the South [...]

Bray: “I admire the fact he saw it, because often these incidents are missed because they happen away from the ball and on the ground, so I thought he did an admirable job of seeing it in the first place.” Hmmmm … the TV shot clearly showed Lawrence was standing a few short meters from [...]

Three points about the eye-gouge It would have been unfortunate for such a great and fiercely fought match to have been decided like that It is always a shame for the spectacle of test match rugby when a red card influences the outcome – even when it is fully deserved (as it was in this [...]

Berdos was under some pressure before the game even started First test referee Bryce Lawrence had penalised the hell out of the Lions in the first half and made a complete hash of the scrums causing a furore in the British press Loftus is a caldron at the best of times The Lions had to [...]

French coach mark Marc Lievremont struggled to fathom some of referee Marius Jonker’s decisions around the ruck in France’s narrow loss to the All Blacks in the second test in Wellington. The All Blacks played a lot better than they did in the first half, taking it to the French at every opportunity and actually [...]

A huge emphasis is being placed on refereeing interpretations going into the first test between South Africa and the Lions. The Lions tour seems to be as much about refereeing interpretations as it is about playing styles – and the latter are certainly influenced by the former. Super14 matches are refereed in a different manner [...]