It’s time for serious introspection by SA rugby referees after another weekend of mistakes
The Blue Bulls started their Currie Cup campaign on Saturday in Cape Town with a dramatic victory over WP, but the referee's unacceptable performance almost stole their glory.
The Blue Bulls have shown that they are serious about adding the Currie Cup to the SuperRugby Unlocked trophy they recently won this season, when they beat Western Province at Newlands in Cape Town under difficult circumstances on Saturday.
However, this match has once again shown that the standard of rugby referees in South Africa will have to be investigated very seriously and very soon. The Bulls’ task was almost ruined by a shocking decision by referee AJ Jacobs, after he and the TV referee, Rasta Rasivhenge, apparently did not communicate well.
The Bulls had to play with 14 men for about 33 minutes, after Jacobs sent the Bulls’ loosehead prop, Jacques van Rooyen, off the field with an extremely controversial red card.
As usual, there were other decisions of the referee that left much to be desired and could have an effect on the outcome of the match. At some stages Jacobs apparently forgot about the offside rule on Saturday, while he – like most other referees – clearly knows far too little about the technical aspects of scrumming.
Photo: SA Rugby
This development follows after there have been some shocking performances by several referees in the SuperRugby Unlocked tournament since the start of the post Covid-19 season.
Despite playing with only fourteen men in the second half, the Blue Bulls managed to snatch a last-gasp 22-20 win over WP the in their entertaining Carling Currie Cup Round One match.
The Blue Bulls showed nerves of steel and massive character to win the match in the dying moments by a conceded try. This victory should mean a lot to the Blue Bulls in the coming weeks in terms of confidence and team cohesion.
The winning try was scored by substitute wing Marco Janse van Vuren, after he caught a perfect cross kick from flyhalf Chris Smith and dived over.
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