Walsh: Apologised to Smith
Hurricanes skipper Conrad Smith believes a physical altercation with referee Steve Walsh during his side's loss to the Reds was not as serious as it looked.
Video footage of the incident - which occurred in the 58th minute of the Reds 18-12 win in Brisbane - shows Walsh shoving Smith as he questions the official about a contentious penalty awarded against the Hurricanes while they were on the attack deep inside the Reds' half.
Although the frame from the television coverage shows New Zealand-born Walsh pushing the All Blacks centre away from him, Smith has downplayed the incident - preferring to make a light joke of it.
"I don't know if they'll be citing him or me," he told Fairfax Media.
Smith said he queried Walsh why he had penalised the Hurricanes as they were on the attack close to the Reds' try-line and trying to wipe out the hosts' six-point advantage.
"He apologised for that," Smith revealed.
"I know it probably looked bad.
"He was off charging to give 10 (metres) for the backchat. I was sort of coming up to chat to him, he ran straight into me."
Smith does not have a problem with Walsh's decision to march the Hurricanes ten metres back after one of his players criticised the call.
"That was fair enough," he admitted.
Sanzar referees boss Lyndon Bray saw the incident and defended Walsh.
"In this case we have a referee that's starting to run," he said.
"When you first start to run your head tends to drop ... you then look up and (in this case) he's got Conrad Smith right in his face.
"I think it was pretty obvious they were going to collide so Steve did the natural reaction.
"The other telling point was Steve spoke to Conrad as though they were sitting in a cafe. He apologised (and) said 'sorry mate'."
Bray believes Walsh's response indicated there was no malice in his actions.
"I don't think there was anything other than a pure collision," he said.
"Both of them found themselves in the same place at the same time."
Comments
Wallaroo says...
Ramage, fair enough. I hear you, the bloke is obviously on a mission albeit I tend to try to see what's behind it. In respect to using the word Saffa, it's a term of endearment like kiwi and aussie, how can anyone miss that.
Posted 13:56 05th March 2013
Ramage says...
There is the point I was making about the posts. Jaystarrputs over his point of view and argues not with attacks on the person accusing him of Corruption or bias but stating that he doesnt believe what Bray says and then puts forward an argument to back it up. You dont have to agree with him but methinks he has a point as I too saw it as quite a strng push and I too thought it was somewhat excessive. However Jay Starr does not attack the integrity of Bray but argues on how the referees tend to look after their own. I can argue either for Jay Starr's point of view or against it depending on my own viewing of the incident. So thanks mate you have proved my point.
I for one do not wish to offend with the use of the word saffa as I certainly dont use it in conjunction with negativity. More I use it the same way as Oz or Kiwi is used to talk about our countries. I did ask a couple of years ago on this forum if the use of the word saffa was offensive but nobody commented on it, so I have used it. If it is offensive tell me and I will stop using it, because I do not wish to offend and suggest what I should use as South African is too long to write lol. After all I can offend enough with some of my comments without helping it by use of a word that means different things to different people.
Posted 10:49 05th March 2013
Ramage says...
yes I make no apology for the comments i made regarding the ill founded accusations that person made Wallaroo. If it offended you so be it but read again what he said I for one will not accept such wild and untrue accusations without saying my piece. We have had this kind of untrue statement made about a number of men who have given their professional input to a thankless job only to have allegations of corruption thrown at them. Sorry man but there are some things that need to be said to these plonkers whether you like it or not.
On a more civil and personal note I hope the family is well.
Posted 09:19 05th March 2013
murph says...
rugbylover says..blah blah blah
What the?? Bray completely unnecessarily assigned Durban boy Kaplan to ref the QF between the Reds and Shorks, and you're saying that there's pro-Reds bias???
hahahah
Posted 17:56 04th March 2013
Trader2 says...
What a lot to do about nothing, anyone complaining about SW's actions is a complete twit, there was no intent plain and simple accident, end of.
Posted 02:46 04th March 2013
Wallaroo says...
@TheNotSoGreatOne The story involves the Reds (Aussie team), the Hurricanes (Kiwi team) and Steve Walsh a very confused Kiwi / Aussie, so why bring up the if it were a South African stuff and open up a can of worms. JayStarr is right Saffas have a coped some undue strife in the past and been the whipping boys to some degree but that is changing although unaided by people like you.
We started as a penal colony, because we would not be threatened or treated with contempt and just got on with it we are now one of the more prolific and respected countries in the world today.
@Ramage mate I expected a lot more civility from you. You have always struck me as a well balanced and holistic individual.
@kitch you missed the point completely TheNotSoGreatOne said if it were a Saffa ref not if it were a Saffa player shoved.Your attempt to deflect shows your complete lack of understanding and guilt. Only stupid people treat others like they are stupid, so please don't treat others like they are stupid again it reflects poorly on you.
Posted 01:08 04th March 2013
Welshy says...
A complete and utter non story.
Posted 15:59 03rd March 2013
passtheball says...
Both teams, the officials and the crowd were feeling the heat and humidity or something. There should be no games in Queensland until late March or maybe Sept.
Posted 14:31 03rd March 2013
JayStarr says...
@ Ramage: I agree that South Africans (I'm sorry, but I do find "saffa" a bit derogatory - mainly because people always use it when they are saying something negative about South Africans) display an 'inferiority complex' quite often - it is almost some people's go-to response. But to deny that South African players and teams have regularly been treated harsh in the past on the international scene by citing officers, other countries' media and even referees means you haven't been paying attention. Luckily, after whining about it quite a lot, it seems to be mainly a thing of the past now... but it was really ridiculous at one stage. And the "big bad bully South Africans" mentality still hasn't quite dissipated in England. So we get a taste of it at least once a year now... But yeah, it shouldn't be our playing card. Just like we hate it when our politicians play the racism card.
Posted 13:51 03rd March 2013
JayStarr says...
Smith's forgiveness and understanding is commendable, but Lyndon Bray's explanation is absolutely RIDICULOUS ! How far (or low) will these referee bosses go to pretend like their referees can do no wrong !? Walsh heard AND SAW Smith - and he didn't BUMP into him... he PUSHED him with his elbow in a deliberate and forceful manner. We have eyes Bray! You're not going to brush this one under the carpet. I'm sure if that was Conrad Smith pushing Walsh out of the way in that manner if Walsh came up to Smith to say something to him, you would've sung a different tune.
Posted 13:36 03rd March 2013
Trinats2 says...
You can take the Kiwi out of NZ, but you can't take the NZ out of the Kiwi !
Posted 10:51 03rd March 2013
golden_statenba says...
She's back!
You have to stop using you husbands email accounts bockavenger lol
Its a bit to obvious
They should get Walsh referring the international games in south Africa!
Looks like he could hold his own if anyone ran on the field
Posted 10:16 03rd March 2013
Ramage says...
Oh dear the great conspiracy theory from a saffa. Geez what is with these guys their inferiority complex comes through in this continual whining from this minority of saffa correspondents. Crawl back where you came from The (so called) Great One and leave the columns for the real saffas who know a bit more than you and dont give us this tripe of how you are being picked on. By the way read what Kitch said think about it before you make those pitiful comments.again.
Posted 09:20 03rd March 2013
Startledwombat says...
Controversy tends to dog this chap Walsh.
Also, legally when you go on a rugby field as a player you are agreeing to abide by a set of standards where assault charges generally can't be laid. In effect you are giving the opposition an "invitation to treat", or, in plain english, "if you wanna have a go at me, come on, have a go."
That invitation is not made by the referee to the players (or to the spectators, as Mr Van Zyl found out to his cost). But nor is it made by the players to the referee, it's only made by the players to other players.
As a result, I was looking at this video from the point of view of intent, and whether or not the referee was intending to push the player out of the way.
Posted 06:33 03rd March 2013
ferdie says...
lighten up folks, an accident not an assault
i have one each way from refereeing - a chipped front tooth caused by a player's arm when I was about to blow the whistle, and once coat-hangered a junior highschool player he ran into my 'advantage' arm got him across the throat.
Posted 01:49 03rd March 2013
isthatrightref says...
Nothing much in it, Walsh is off & marching the 'canes back the 10m for back-chat (not by Smith) as Smith runs up to question the call, they collide, Walsh says "sorry mate, didn't see ya" or some such, life goes on. Debatable call, though, as Shipperley (?) did look to have been held & could've been pinged for not releasing.
@ The GreatOne... yeah nah bro, we love sethfricken refs, esp our Oncle Craig :-)
Posted 23:17 02nd March 2013
kitch says...
rubbish... if a player did that to the ref he would probably be sent off despite apologising .. the fact walsh didnt stop then and there indicates he did intend to shove smith out of the way and it was only while running to the mark walsh thought that was pretty dumb of me. Walsh does tend to get an attitude problem towards certain teams and some in the past have sought to get rid of him from SR.
@greatone(yeh right)
if it were a SA team youd be ringing walsh up and threatening him with death threats .. isnt that how you guys do it!
Posted 19:10 02nd March 2013
carpelone says...
I think the camera on his head played some part.
This is no news
Posted 18:49 02nd March 2013
rugbylover says...
So...............not only do referees have a bias in favour of the Reds, they are now actually physically playing for them.
Posted 18:27 02nd March 2013
TheGreatOne says...
If it was a South African referee who did that to a Kiwi, Lyndon Bray would have gone crazy and had him banned for life and his family sentenced to ten years hard labour
Posted 15:25 02nd March 2013