Ex-All Blacks star reveals reason for ‘time wasting’ debate between Rassie Erasmus and Dave Rennie
Referee Mathew Carley and ex-All Blacks fly-half Stephen Donald (inset).
Stephen Donald believes the recent debate between the Springboks and All Blacks over the pace of the game are mind games aimed at the referee ahead of Saturday’s Test in Johannesburg.
South Africa will host New Zealand in the opening Test of Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry series at Ellis Park and earlier this week both camps had plenty to say regarding allegations from the All Blacks camp that the Springboks are attempting to slow the game down.
On Monday, Springboks head coach Rassie Erasmus held a press conference alongside ex-international referee Jaco Peyper, who is SA Rugby’s law adviser. This was aimed at countering claims from the All Blacks that the Boks would be using go-slow tactics when the arch-rivals meet.
All Blacks head coach Dave Rennie then responded by saying he is unsure what Peyper was referring to, although he mentioned that the Sharks were trying to slow the game down while the Bulls “had a much more positive mindset” when the All Blacks faced the aforementioned sides in Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry tour matches recently.
Rennie also confirmed that the head coaches would not be holding a meeting around the topic of “time wasting” with English match official Matthew Carley, who will be refereeing Saturday’s Test.
Comments aimed at influencing the referee
Former All Blacks fly-half Donald waded into the debate and said he feels Erasmus and Rennie’s comments were aimed at influencing the referee ahead of the eagerly anticipated showdown.
“They’re both very intelligent, and they’ve both been around long enough to know that subconsciously or consciously you can get involved in the referees’ minds,” he told The Aftermatch with Kirst & Beav.
“And how you want it to be played to the benefit of your team and your own agenda is half the little fight and little squabble that they have all week and all the games.
“And what a play (by Erasmus) to bring a former international referee to a press conference. Look, I can’t imagine there was many people around the world that wanted Jaco there, respectfully.
“They probably wanted to hear from Peter-Steph (du Toit), maybe Siya Kolisi, maybe Sacha’s (Feinberg-Mngomezulu) back, maybe (Handre) Pollard, all these other superstars. But the Springboks decided to put up the referee liaison officer, which was fascinating.”
Despite finding it strange that Peyper, and not a Springboks player, accompanied Erasmus at that press conference, Donald was not entirely surprised by that decision.
‘They will use anything they can’
“This isn’t foreign. This isn’t new. These coaches at this level, they will use anything they can,” he said.
“And as I said, it’s subconsciously, if you can make enough noise about something, then you can get it in the referee’s mind.
“And he might look harder at something that you want him to look harder at, not doing anything sort of against his own integrity, but he’s human and he’s heard about it all week and he maybe sees something and then he can blow it.”
Another aspect which Donald feels could impact the referee’s decision-making at Ellis Park is the crowd factor.
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“We all drive to the ground, don’t we? And we all see the fanatical supporters that are going to be lining those streets two, three hours before kick-off,” he explained.
“So, you would think the rub of the green (could go to the Boks), but they’re (the referees) professionals.
“They surely haven’t been given the job if they’re going to be not up to it, and they’re going to shrink. I think Angus (Garnder) has got one (Test as referee). I’d have loved to have seen Angus get all four, but that’s the way it goes.
“So it’ll be interesting, and it’ll be interesting to see if these little mind games that have been played have been nothing more than a waste of breath or if, again, they get that one or two decisions that they need and then they’ll say, ‘job done’.”