Dingbat32 says...

Greenstone1408 - I got your point on Rolland, just dont agree that the incidents you describe are the carbon copies you claim. I guess neither does Rolland.

Ruckingkiwi and to a lesser degree Ramage - The whingeing Saffas with conspiracy theories are a tiny minority of criminally low IQ. I am talking people at the level of that idiot who attacked the ref in SA v NZ game.

2 important points though: 1) dont confuse Saffa fans making genuine comments about reffing errors with the minority above. If these fans criticise POB then it is not a claim of conspiracy, and no different to NZ criticisms of say Wayne Barnes. 2) Before getting all high and mighty, consider the "Susie" incident and think twice before criticising other nations.

Posted 06:20 29th March 2012

coronach says...

@ Beanskin says...FINALLY . . .

well not 'finally at all; there is nothing new in this.

After their below standard performances late 2009 two SA refs Mark Lawrence and Marius Jonkers were 'axed' in the same manner as Lawrence - dropped from any involvement whether referee, ref asst or TMO for the whole 6Ns comp 2010. Both had refereed at the 2007 RWC.

Fair enough on all accounts, refs must be accountable for their performances, and reward for those below them working their way up towards the top.

Posted 11:51 27th March 2012

7ton says...

Jontheref

POB certainly did not support Dickinson in that Italy/NZ game he criticised him but obviously not for the reason you think he should have. It is an old argument and while he was wrong to do it publicaly many agree his actual criticisms were correct and many disagree. IT is not the case of "All could see" like you claim.

Neither did POB "humiliate" Barnes in 07 he was quite vocal in support and critisised certain parts of the NZ media and public. Yes he did say later that Barnes made some mistakes and that was hyped up by the NZ media as some sort of turnaround.

While I am not saying POB was particulary good or bad at his job I think as you call yourself a referee your post is rather inaccurate and unbalanced

Posted 09:52 27th March 2012

Dingbat32 says...

Greenstone 1408 - you may disagree with some Rolland decisions but he is one of the top refs because he is consistent and applies the rules. There are far worse refs about, with far clearer mistakes than the ones you claim, so dont know why he is being picked on to this extent.

I maintain that he is unpopular because he stops more of the cheating than other refs.

Posted 23:04 26th March 2012

Greenstone1408 says...

JayStarr fair point. I would go for Joubert as the top ref right now as he is generally not at all noticeable through a game which to me says he is getting right on the whole. I like Owens communication to the players during a game, and so far (on limited knowledge of him on my part) Pollock has looked good.

Posted 16:52 26th March 2012

JayStarr says...

Just a quick poll:

Since everyone on here is slagging off all the refs, just for a change, who do you think the best referee in the world is right now?

I vote for Craig Joubert...

Posted 14:29 26th March 2012

Greenstone1408 says...

@Dingbat32 sorry but Rolland can retain no pretence of credibilty as a international referee. His lack of consistantcy since the begining of 2011 is crystal clear. 2011 six nations English players up ends a welsh player result play on, wc semi final welsh player up ends a french player result red card, this six nations England France, the same "offence" of delibrate knock on from both and English player and a French player, The Englishman gets a yellow card, the Frenchmen nothing. Rolland is shockingly inconsistant ref at best, and should be nowhere near the international game. The reason I will not consider going the Wales Barbarians game is that we know he is the ref i refuse to pay money to watch game decend into the mire as he insists on making it all about him.

Posted 13:22 26th March 2012

Willy says...

Ok so reading all the posts, every ref bar Chris Pollock (who has only 2 tier 1 international tests to his name) has been heavily given out about. At this rate there will been nobody left to ref the game.

People are still talking about 2007 and other old games. Ref's like players can go in and out of form. One bad game doesn't make a bad ref, Even the likes of McCaw and Drico have off days. Of course its not nice when it happens to your team but the reality is ref's are human and can make mistakes.

I think this panel of 4 will be far better and I think you will see ref's constantly move on and off the elite panel based on form.

I think of the 9 refs on the panel 7 deserve to be there and 2 are a little lucky but that said they are better at the moment than the 2-3 who are unlucky to miss out.

Posted 12:27 26th March 2012

JayStarr says...

The best news I've had in YEAARS!! Hear that sound..? It's a massive party at my house!!

After screaming "Paddy O must go" for more than a year, he's finally gone... And don't even get me started on Bryce Lawrence...

This is one small step for the IRB, but one giant leap for the game of rugby!

Now hopefully the IRB will continue with their moment of clarity and appoint SA referee boss André Watson as the new head of referees.

The SA referees are not the best in the world lately for nothing... It's thanks to André Watson's hands-on, innovative work. Organising days where he makes the referees play rugby and gets rugby players to teach them the technical side of tackling, break-downs, scrumming, etc. - putting them on the other side of the whistle, making them realise what players go through, seeing things from their perspective, etc. Under him SA refs have raised the bar. As the IRB's head of referees he can help raise the standards the world over.

Posted 11:34 26th March 2012

Greenstone1408 says...

Can anyone give a rational reason for Clancy and Rolland to retained on the list? The perfect chance to remove these two game killing, pedantic useless clowns. A real opportunity has been missed to improve the quality and consistancy of the officials at the top level.

Posted 09:40 26th March 2012