The former Bok lock said he had picked up four critical decisions that had gone against the Boks in the first Test against the All Blacks.
Referee Matthew Carley oversees a scrum during last Saturday’s Test at Ellis Park. Picture: Floris van Schouwenburg/Gallo Images
Former Springbok captain Victor Matfield has questioned some of the officiating by England’s Matthew Carley in last Saturday’s Springbok Test loss to the All Blacks at Ellis Park.
The Boks lost the first of four Tests in Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry series 33-16.
The second Test is this weekend in Cape Town with the third Test at the FNB Stadium and the fourth in Baltimore, USA.
Speaking on the Rugby Rivals podcast with former All Blacks wing John Kirwan, Matfield doesn’t hold back in having a go at Carley and some of the decisions that went against the Boks.
“Up until 55 minutes we were dominating and then there were probably about five calls in a row that just went unbelievably to the All Blacks,” said Matfield, who played over 100 Tests for the Boks.
“And it started at that scrum.”
The scrum Matfield is referring to is the one in front of the All Blacks posts sort of midway through the second half when the Boks won penalty after penalty and continued to scrum, looking for a try, maybe a penalty try. Eventually the penalty went the way of the All Blacks, after Gerhard Steenekamp was penalised.
From there the All Blacks took charge of the game.
“Your No 1 went in on the angle so badly and that’s why we just shifted away,” said Matfield.
“Because No 1 went around the angle, we were straight, all of a sudden we dominated the scrum, we were going forward again, and all of a sudden penalty against South Africa.
“Then we had Fabian Holland going for the turnover on the ground, won the turnover, we held him up. You get the scrum. Why didn’t South Africa get the scrum if it was a fair turnover? We held you up, it’s a maul.
“Then we had the tackle, [Luke] Jacobson on [Cobus] Reinach. He firstly hit the man without the ball, Jasper Wiese, then while counter-rucking tackling our nine.
“Then two minutes later exactly the same happened on our tryline. Damian McKenzie tackles Jesse Kriel, falls over the ball. Jesse tries to place it, he can’t because Damian is lying there.
“Then Marco van Staden comes from the side, tackles the nine exactly like Jacobson, and it’s a yellow card.
“For me that was just four decisions.
“Yes, South Africa did make a lot of mistakes up to then, but those four critical decisions just put us under so much pressure … yellow card, and then I think the Springboks just felt the pressure and the wheels came off.”
Kirwan said he though the referee, Carley “only refereed the defensive side”.
He added: ‘I agree with you about a lot of those decisions … they were 50/50. And they were key moments.”
Nika Amashukeli of Georgia will handle this week’s second Test in Cape Town, while Angus Gardner of Australia will referee the FNB Stadium game. The fourth Test at the M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore will see Karl Dickson in charge.
For the full podcast see Rugby Rivals on YouTube.
