‘All Blacks are going to get a surprise’ – Jean de Villiers rejects Springboks stereotype amid tourists’ claims and refereeing concerns
Jesse Kriel running past All Blacks' Jordie Barrett, and Springboks legend Jean de Villiers.
Jean de Villiers insists that Super Rugby-style refereeing would not necessarily help the All Blacks in their quest to defeat the Springboks.
Some New Zealand fans and pundits are convinced that Dave Rennie’s men can ‘run South Africa off their feet’ and that Rassie Erasmus’ side would not be able to live with the tourists if they can get tempo into the game.
Speed has become a watchword for those in Australia and New Zealand as they have looked to reduce the amount of interventions from the TMO which has slowed down the game.
Officiating frustrations
Frustration has therefore built over the first few matches of Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry tour over the officiating from the northern hemisphere officials.
De Villiers does agree that the decision-making process needs to be quickened up but contests the view that the Boks would be hampered by a quick match.
“I agree with the point that we need to speed up the game, we can’t have such long breaks in play. Whether that is the production team getting it quickly in place or whether it’s the decision-making of the officials, we need to be better at that because we do have too many breaks,” the Springboks legend said on Boks Unpacked.
“I know from New Zealand, everyone is saying: ‘New Zealand will speed up the game and South Africa won’t be able to deal with the pace of the game’.
“I think you’re going to get a surprise if you think you’re going to outrun and outplay the Springboks.”
Fellow former Springboks centre Robbie Fleck agreed, adding: “10 years ago maybe that’s true”, before De Villiers delved more into the current officiating methods.
“The product needs to be better and stoppages in play does create a stop-start situation and we need to try and speed it up. How, I don’t know,” he said.
“It’s also this language that they speak, they’ve got their own language, something’s not just black and white.”
De Villiers ‘makes peace’ with differing interpretations
Critics claim that there is a lack of consistency from the officials, but De Villiers states that people simply have to accept that interpretations will vary from referee to referee.
“We don’t want that to be the talking point and unfortunately it has become part of every single conversation post-game,” he said.
“The reality is every single referee, whether it’s northern hemisphere or southern hemisphere. You take northern hemisphere referees, Carley is different to Dickson, who is different to whoever.
“Each guy interprets it differently, so you need to be able to adapt to it. Now you’ve got an Angus Gardner – southern hemisphere – and he is now totally different to any of the other guys.
“I’ve made peace with the fact every referee approaches it in a different way and I think it’s two areas – one is the scrum and then ruck time.
“Some let it develop at ruck time, some are far more strict on the ball carrier, some are far more strict on the guys having a go at the breakdown, so you have make peace with the fact everyone will be different.”
