Steve Walsh admits he could have missed a knock-on in the dying minutes of Saturday’s Super 14 final that proved to be decisive for both sides.
The New Zealand-born referee was sprinting to keep up with a move that had stretched the width of the pitch and broke down close to the Sharks 22. Television replays show a Bulls player knock the ball forward as Walsh arrived at the ruck.
The Bulls then some how recollected the ball and cleared to the backline in a move that eventually culminated in Bryan Habana’s match-winning try.
Speaking to keo.co.za Walsh said he had not conducted the official performance review yet, but had seen television replays which he thought could have exposed a crucial error.
“Having had a look at it again I think I could have missed something there,” he told keo.co.za. “But while I’m not excusing errors, referees do make them in every game. When a game is close like Saturday’s was, there’s always a spotlight on every decision you make. ”
Walsh, who was officiating in his first Super 14 final and his 50th Super Rugby fixture of his career, was not particularly impressed with the quality of rugby on display - but added that he hadn’t expected a fluent, flowing contest.
“Look, to be honest the standard of rugby wasn’t that high - but given that it was a final - I guess you’d expect that,” he said. “The intensity was right up there with the best matches I’ve officiated at though, and the finish, well, that was just unbelievable.
“The atmosphere was electric, and when the Sharks scored late on that rose a couple of notches. There were black and white flags flying everywhere, but three and a half minutes later a gutsy Bulls side made sure the only flags to be seen were the Blue ones.”
By Ryan Vrede
*Disclaimer - Views expressed within this story are not necessarily the views of this Blog
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