Springbok legend Victor Matfield has criticised the officiating of Matthew Carley during South Africa's first Test defeat to the All Blacks last Saturday. Rassie Erasmus' side fell to a 33-16 loss in the first of four Tests against New Zealand, with some of English referee Carley's decisions at Ellis Park coming under scrutiny from home supporters.
Matfield's criticism
Former South Africa captain Matfield joined those calls, criticising his refereeing on the Rugby Rivals podcast with former All Blacks wing John Kirwan. “Up until 55 minutes we were dominating and then there were probably about five calls in a row that just went unbelievably to the All Blacks,” said Matfield, who played over 100 Tests for the Springboks.
Speaking about one scrum penalty that went against South Africa as they were looking to score near the All Blacks' try-line, Matfield added: “Your No 1 went in on the angle so badly and that’s why we just shifted away.
“Because No 1 went around the angle, we were straight, all of a sudden we dominated the scrum, we were going forward again, and all of a sudden penalty against South Africa.
“Then we had Fabian Holland going for the turnover on the ground, won the turnover, we held him up. You get the scrum. Why didn’t South Africa get the scrum if it was a fair turnover? We held you up, it’s a maul.
“Then we had the tackle, [Luke] Jacobson on [Cobus] Reinach. He firstly hit the man without the ball, Jasper Wiese, then while counter-rucking tackling our nine.
“Then two minutes later exactly the same happened on our tryline. Damian McKenzie tackles Jesse Kriel, falls over the ball. Jesse tries to place it, he can’t because Damian is lying there.
“Then Marco van Staden comes from the side, tackles the nine exactly like Jacobson, and it’s a yellow card.
“For me that was just four decisions.
“Yes, South Africa did make a lot of mistakes up to then, but those four critical decisions just put us under so much pressure … yellow card, and then I think the Springboks just felt the pressure and the wheels came off.”
Kirwan's agreement
Kirwan said he thought the referee “only refereed the defensive side”. “I agree with you about a lot of those decisions,” said Kirwan. “They were 50/50. And they were key moments.”
Georgian official Nika Amashukeli will handle this weekend's second Test in Cape Town. However, Springboks coach Erasmus won't meet with the referee ahead of the match at DHL Stadium.
Erasmus' stance
The World Cup-winning mastermind said this week that the current World Rugby protocols - which require both head coaches to attend any pre-match meeting with the referee - render the discussions pointless. Both Erasmus and All Blacks coach Dave Rennie opted against meeting Carley last week and will do the same this time around - instead looking to meet for a beer in Cape Town on Friday without Amashukeli.
“In my opinion, it’s impossible to discuss something with the referee with the other coach present,” Erasmus said on Tuesday. “I’m going to say, ‘Listen, we are concerned about this in the scrums,’ and he’s going to say, ‘But we do this in the scrums.’
“You might say, ‘These guys really clean out well at the breakdown … will you be looking at that?’ But you can’t have that discussion in front of the referee because then the opposition coach knows that’s what you’re looking at.
“So what do you discuss with the referee? Boys, are you going to play within the laws? The laws of the game are the laws, so it’s almost impossible.
“Dave and I had a beer [after the Ellis Park Test], and we’re going to try and catch up on Friday for a beer in Cape Town. But without the referee.
“In my opinion, there’s no logic behind two coaches meeting together and discussing the laws with the referees.”
