by Super Wrap | 18 March 2008 (17:18)
Rugby referees have gone on the attack after a weekend of Super 14 rugby in which the ELVs and rugby’s officers of the law gained more publicity than the players.
Round Five produced a number of incidents that had commentators lamenting the state of the game.
Lyndon Bray sent Chris Latham to the sinbin for a studs on man incident that was as far removed from rucking as gumboot dancing is from ballet and Willie Roos gave Stephen Hoiles the same punishment for using foul language!
The SuperWrap kids ye not. This is really what happened in the game we used to know as rugby, but by far the most contentious incident, and one which allegedly did involve some profanity, surrounded an incident at Ellis Park in which Sharks hooker Bismarck du Plessis was not allowed to return to the field after having a cut attended to.
Most, including Sharks coach Dick Muir, felt Du Plessis had made the 15 minute period allowed for such an incident and SuperSport’s Sunday show All Out Rugby said as much by highlighting the passage of time indicated on the match clock.
But the referees are striking back. An unattributed article on the SA Rugby Referees website rushes to the defence of the officials at Ellis Park but, in the mind of the SuperWrap, succeeds only in demonstrating that Dick Muir’s word, “pedantic”, was right.
Here is what the referees have to say. You make up your own mind.
In the programme All Out Rugby on South African television it was stated that the referee had made a bad decision when Bismarck du Plessis was not allowed onto the field after he had gone off bleeding from a cut above his right eye. Was it a bad decision?
“Du Plessis of the Sharks bled from a cut over the eye. He went off to get attention and then came to the touch-line wanting to come back on. The referee said that he could not come back on. There was a debate on the touch-line in which some of the Sharks management were obviously upset that Du Plessis was not allowed back on.
“It is difficult to give exact times from the television, but as near as possible we give a programme of events. The claim is that Du Plessis had been off for 11 minutes when he presented himself for readmission and that this confirmed (sic) to the 15-minute allowance for bleeding players.
“The timetable looks roughly like this:
“14 minutes 54 seconds: Du Plessis and Keegan Daniels bang heads at a tackle. Du Plessis reels back holding his eye. Medical staff come onto the field and attend to him. Play goes on for some time and does not stop till BJ Botha has scored a try.
“16 minutes 30 seconds: Botha scores a try. He plunges over from a tackle/ruck on the Lions line in which Du Plessis was involved. When Du Plessis got involved, it was obvious that his eyebrow was bloodied.
“Rory Kockott kicks the conversion and the Lions kick the kick-off out on the full.
“18 minutes 49 seconds: The referee sets a scrum and Craig Burden is there to take up the hooking position in Du Plessis's place.
“One can assume that between 16 minutes 30 and 18 minutes 49 Du Plessis left the field.
“30 minutes 19 seconds Du Plessis is shown at the touch-line ready to come on. There is a stoppage at this stage and the Lions are about to kick for touch. Because there is a stoppage it is a suitable time for Du Plessis to return to the field. The referee tells him that he may not return.
“The times we have given are the times as they appear on the television clock. Even if Du Plessis had gone off exactly when Botha scored he had till 33 minutes 40 before 15 minutes was up on the clock.
“The argument is that when he presented himself for readmission he was within a minute of the 15 minutes allowed him.
“That is why the decision has been called a wrong one.
“But it is not as simple as that.
“Let's start with law and an important little word in brackets.
“Law 3.10 10 TEMPORARY REPLACEMENT
“(a) When a player leaves the field to have bleeding controlled and/or have an open wound covered, that player may be temporarily replaced. If the player who has been temporarily replaced does not return to the field-of-play within 15 minutes (actual time) of leaving the playing area, the replacement becomes permanent and the replaced player must not return to the field-of-play.
“The important little word is actual.
“The time that appears on the television set is playing time, not actual time. When the referee calls Time, the clock is stopped. While Du Plessis was off there were three stoppages, three incidents when time was off.
‘The first was at the first scrum after Ross Geldenhuys had been sent to the sin bin. Time was needed to allow JC Janse van Rensburg to come on into the front row and Joe van Niekerk to go off. Then time was needed to attend to hooker Willie Wepener's thumb which was strapped.
“The second was a short one while a player tied a lace before a scrum.
“The third was a long one. First Ross Geldenhuys was allowed back onto the field after being in the sin bin and he was spoken to. Then there was delay for an injury.
“Those were the obvious stoppages when the referee called time off.
“He called time off because those stoppages were not a part of playing time and so not recorded on the television clock. But that time was a part of actual time.
“There is reasoning behind this. The temporary replacement for bleeding is to give time for a minor injury to be attended to - partly for the sake of the other players in days when the possibility of contaminated blood is a worry. It was reckoned that 15 minutes would be enough to get the bleeding stopped and cleaned up in the case of a minor injury. Longer than 15 minutes suggests a more serious injury in which case it would be in the player's interests not to play on.
“Du Plessis had an arch of stitches over his eyebrow. For all anybody knows it may have been in his interests not to come back on - not that that was the referee's concern but it perhaps explains the lawmakers thinking.
“The 15 minutes is not a punishment. People speak of the blood bin and the sin bin. The sin bin is for punishment, the blood bin to protect the player's health. It's not a punishment.
“Applying the law is not pedantic any more than blowing a "little" forward pass or a "little" knock-on or a "little" off-side is pedantic. At what stage does 15 minutes cease to be pedantic? At 17? 18? 20?
“Now, who keeps time. It is primarily the referee's responsibility but there are three other people who may come into play in this matter.
“On the touch-line there are two men in referees garb who control the coming and going of players. They are referred top as No.4 and No.5. They are not timekeepers.
“Who keeps time?
“Law 5.3 TIME KEEPING
“The referee keeps the time but may delegate the duty to either or both the touch judges and/or the official time-keeper, in which case the referee signals to them any stoppage of time or time lost. In matches without an official time-keeper, if the referee is in doubt as to the correct time the referee consults either or both the touch judges and may consult others but only if the touch judges cannot help.
“That the referee needs a timekeeper to help him is obvious. Just in this match at Ellis Park he would have had to keep match time, allowing for stoppages, check the ten minutes that Geldenhuys was in the sin bin and keep that time exact and keep tabs on the time Du Plessis was away getting stitched - oh, and see to applying all the other Laws of the Game.
“At Ellis Park where this match was played, there is an efficient system of timekeeping with two timekeepers. One is the manager of Golden Lions referees, the other the chairman of Golden Lions referees, a former provincial referee. Two are used to make doubly sure in case there is some failure in the system. Both have the ability to contact the referee but only one does so, as the Laws of the Game demand - "the official time-keeper". The referee deals just with the one - the designated one. That is what happened in this case.
“The official timekeeper was able to tell the referee that Du Plessis's 15-minute allowance had passed.
“There was nothing sinister about what happened. It happened in accordance with the Laws of the Game and the times can in fact be verified because the timekeeper keeps a log.”
Apart from the unnecessarily sarcastic tone of the article the SuperWrap is of the opinion that the Sharks were, indeed, done in. If there is an official log why not produce it?
What’s more, even if Du Plessis left the field after 16½ minutes (which is probably a little earlier than he actually did) he presented himself back on the touchline in the 30th minute – in other words a minute and a half inside the cut-off line. If he left slightly later he would have obviously have beaten the time limit by a little more.
It’s pushing it a little on the part of the referees to suggest that in a 13½ period some 90 seconds of extra/actual time was added and it does seem petty/pedantic that the player was fouled for what, at the utmost, might have been a couple of seconds.
Another puzzle is that the times apparently provided to the Press at Ellis Park spoke of Du Plessis departing in 18 minutes and 22 seconds and returning at 34 minutes 15 seconds. It is not clear from which source reporters obtained these (precise) splits but they are at odds with what was shown on the television clock and indicate that Du Plessis might have left a good minute later and thus had even more time to get back.
The SuperWrap has often warned that the system of introducing substitutes is flawed and even made suggestions of how it can be improved. In Round Four Bakkies Botha returned from the sinbin some two minutes early to help the Bulls to score a try against the Lions and not a week goes by that players depart, get replaced or re-appear seemingly without restriction.
It is the contention of the SuperWrap that the sinking of Bismarck was bound to happen – it was just a question of when.
*The “Bok Barometer” for Week Five contains an unprecedented first in that includes three former Zimbabweans in props Tendai Mtawarira and Brian Mujati and wing Tonderai Chavhanga.
“The Beast” and Mujati are both from Peterhouse while Chavhanga, who is looking increasingly impressive now that he has shaken off a succession of injuries, is a Prince Edward boy who, of course, holds the Springbok record of 6 for tries in a test match.
The Super XV for Week Five:
1 Greg Holmes (Reds), 2 Tai McIsaac (Force), 3 Neemia Tialata (Hurricanes), 4 Brad Thorn (Crusaders), 5 Nathan Sharpe (Force), 6 Richie McCaw (Crusaders), 7 Chris Masoe (Hurricanes), 8 Rodney So’oialo (Hurricanes), 9 Rory Kockott (Sharks), 10 Matt Giteau (Force), 11 Drew Mitchell (Force), 12 Jean de Villiers (Stormers), 13 Casey Laulala (Crusaders), 14 Hosea Gear (Hurricanes), 15 Chris Latham (Reds).
The Bok Barometer for Week Five:
1 Tendai Mtawarira (Sharks), Schalk Brits (Stormers), 3 Brian Mujati (Stormers), 4 Johann Muller (Sharks), 5 Andries Bekker (Stormers), 6 Schalk Burger (Stormers), 7 Jacques Botes (Sharks), 8 Ryan Kankowski (Sharks), 9 Rory Kockott (Sharks), 10 Peter Grant (Stormers), 11 JP Pieterse (Sharks), 12 Jean de Villiers (Stormers), 13 Jaco Pretorius (Lions), 14 Tonderai Chavhanga (Stormers), 15 Conrad Jantjes (Stormers).
Match of the Week: To the Stormers for their second win on the road; a nifty 35-26 over the Chiefs that included another bonus point. Jean de Villiers’ men have had to endure some withering criticism and they have shown all others who might find themselves in the same position the best way to duck the snipers – start winning!
Try of the Week: To the great team effort that saw Franco van der Merwe crash over for the Lions after 14 phases against the Sharks. It came too late, but with a little more of that accuracy and patience Loffie’s boys may yet roar.
Schleppers of the Week: If Frans Ludeke and the Bulls are not in hiding could they please squirm up to the podium. A team award to the entire touring squad for tarnishing their champion status against the Reds.
Biggest turnaround in history: To the Bulls. Last year they beat the Reds 92-3. This year they lost 40-8. An 89-point loss into a 32-point victory? That’s a swing of 121 points and all credit to those long suffering Reds fans who never lost their sense of humour and chanted “we want 92!” before the game.
Were their faces red?: The Bulls that is. Before Saturday’s Chris Latham inspired rise from the ashes the Reds had gone 23 consecutive game without scoring a bonus point for four tries – from 1/4/2006, when they managed it in going down 28-36 against the Sharks. Interestingly 23 equals the “record” of the Highlanders who also went 23 games, from March 2005 to February 2007, without a bonus point for tries.
Divided loyalties: It was a wonderful moment for the Force to beat the Blues in New Zealand – coached by a Kiwi, John Mitchell, over a team coach by an Aussie, David Nucifora.
For the record: The SuperWrap’s thanks to sharp-eyed and clearly knowledgeable reader Adrian Hill from New Zealand who spotted an error which has been in the Super Rugby record for some years now – pointing out that Keegan Daniel’s “record” try in 16 seconds against the Blues was in fact not a record at all. Adrian, or “Gomma” as he would be known if he was a Zimbo, e-mailed us to say that Vula Maimuri scored a try in 12 seconds for the Highlanders against the Crusaders (of all teams!) on May 12, 2001. So to the archives we went, pulled the tape of the match, and there it was. Long kick-off by the Highlanders, charge-down of a clearance by Andrew Mehrtens and a try by Maimuri in 12 seconds. Thanks for helping us set the record straight Adrian, but sorry, we can’t change the result of the World Cup!
New nickname: For referee Willie Roos. “Kanga.”
Who ate all the pies? A toss-up between the butts of Piri Weepu and Ricky Januarie.
Quote of the Week I: “It must be nice not to hang out with one of those silly backs. Hookers to the left and hookers to the right.” – Phil Kearns to Greg Clark welcoming new Aussie comments man Brendon Cannon.
Quote of the Week II: “Well the TJs stayed off the field this time.” – Schalk Burger after Matthew Cooper had teased him about not having any “chats” with the referee.
Quote of the Week III: “It scares me how quickly we have devalued forward play. The breakdown has become ridiculous. The biggest problem is they took rucking away from the game so that now we have a free-for-all with hands on the ball." – former All Black Josh Kronfeld.
Quote of the Week IV: “The blatant cleaning up of the game has sadly transformed rugby into a limp pat-a-cake exercise. Rugby has become soft.” – Veteran Australian rugby writer Greg Growden in the Sydney Morning Herald.
