Springboks refereeing decisions scrutinised before Cape Town Test against All Blacks

Refereeing decisions from the Springboks’ 33-16 defeat by the All Blacks at Ellis Park will remain under scrutiny when the sides meet again in Cape Town on Saturday.

New Zealand absorbed sustained pressure from South Africa before producing a series of second-half counter-attacks to secure victory in the opening Test of the Greatest Rivalry series.

Much of the discussion since the match has focused on decisions made by England referee Matt Carley. Former Springboks head coach Nick Mallett and former lock Victor Matfield examined several of the incidents on Final Whistle Presents Side Entry on SuperSport.

Mallett stressed that South Africa’s defeat could not be blamed on officiating, but argued that some calls had gone against the home side while they were also contributing to their own problems.

“One of the most contentious moments came when Fabian Holland charged down Grant Williams’ box kick, helping New Zealand take the lead in the second half.

“First of all, we’ve got to say we’re not looking for excuses. We lost this game,” Mallett said.

“But when you get a game that goes against you, and you’re making your own mistakes, often you also get calls that go against you.

“Right at the beginning of the game, Etzebeth charged the ball down. There’s the offside line; he’s well ahead of the offside line.

“There’s a player, an All Black player, on the ground part of the ruck, and we’ll show the Springbok offside; it’s called; it’s exactly the same.

“The ref says that’s not offside, play on, and he scores a try. At the beginning, there’s Etzebeth; I thought he was offside, but I also thought that Holland was offside too,” Mallett said.

The analysts also discussed a scrum penalty awarded against South Africa while the Springboks were attacking close to the All Blacks’ line.

South Africa had chosen a third consecutive scrum after a penalty, with New Zealand under significant pressure only five metres from their own line. Matfield believed the All Blacks could instead have been penalised during the sequence.

“After five scrums, this happened, and if you look at that, he [Gerhard Steenekamp] has penalised us here for walking around.

“Look at the angle of the loosehead of New Zealand. If you get that angle, how can you not walk around because that prop just went on the angle?

“Wilco Louw was straight. We can see it [and] the pressure is there, and the All Blacks step left and then, of course, the Boks will follow. What I can’t understand is that we’ve dominated the scrums, we’ve got five scrum penalties in a row, and we are going forward.

“Now it’s the same way where quite a few calls go against us, another one against us.

“It’s a very, very big call. Five metre scrum under the posts. Admittedly, we took three scrums, didn’t we? We got two penalties. We went back to a scrum. Perhaps this referee just said, ‘We’re not going to have the scrum all the time.’”

Van Staden yellow card questioned

The yellow card shown to Marco van Staden late in the match was another decision considered by Mallett, who felt England official Carley had again made the wrong call.

The incident followed a tackle involving Jesse Kriel and Damian McKenzie. Mallett argued that McKenzie should have moved away, leaving Van Staden in a position that did not justify punishment.

“Jesse Kriel is tackled by Damian McKenzie, who should roll away,” noted Mallett.

“Jesse Kriel tries to place the ball, but the tackler is lying on the completely wrong side of the tackle. He’s not allowed to be there.

“Remember, stealers can’t steal if the tackler is still there. There again, there are the lines through the gate.

“Marco van Staden is not there, but he’s behind the last man’s feet.”

Georgia’s Nika Amashukeli will referee Saturday’s second Test in Cape Town. He will face pressure to ensure his decisions are accurate and consistent for both the Springboks and the All Blacks.