News

Springboks bleat about Bryce

Sunday 20th July 2008

Victor Matfield: Disappointed

South Africa may have gained an epic win in Dunedin for the first time ever, but this touring party is making few friends in the rugby fraternity.

The captain has let fly at perceived double-standards in discipline, the coaches have had a go at opposition scrummaging techniques, and now the officials are once again under fire after Saturday's defeat to Australia.

Bryce Lawrence is not a favourite in South Africa anyway after a couple of incidents in the Super 14, and the Bok coaches are set to formally protest at his officiating of areas of the game in Perth.

"There are a lot of things that went wrong that you can't discuss here (and) bring yourself in trouble again," coach Peter de Villiers said after the game.

"But then again, we will put something together and address it in the right places."

"It is always frustrating if there are inconsistencies. But we had to live with it."

"We South Africans, we are not losers. We didn't foresee this, it was not the best thing to happen to us. We expect to have a better contest, that we didn't get.

"I believe that we controlled a lot of the game. But on the day, they out-stripped us, especially on the ground. Full credit to the Aussies, they deserved it.

Captain for the day, Victor Matfield also struggled to cntain his true feelings when pressed on the officiating, especially with regard to contact at the line-out.

"It is one thing I had a chat to the ref before the game and asked him to control for us," Matfield said.

"At half-time I went to him again and he said sorry for one or two that he missed in the first half. And luckily in the second half, he pinged them for that.

"Luckily we got that last penalty, it probably gave us the bonus point."

The Springbok night was further sullied by injuries to flanker Schalk Burger and wing Bryan Habana. The extent of the injuries has not yet been confirmed.