Aussies cheat, McCaw competes

2008-09-08 09:38

Greg Growden

Sydney - PSSSST, Wallabies. Hate to tell you, but those pesky referees are right on to you. They don't like what you do at the scrums, and have grown tired of your sneaky offside antics.

And if you're wondering why the All Blacks were able to reverse the Sydney loss with an Auckland swamp-job to level the Bledisloe Cup series, it's all because of the say-so of those irritating whistlers who just love messing up a good old Test wrestle.

Eerie stuff, but it's all there to see in a column the recently retired Kiwi referee Paul Honiss has written for the latest issue of the NZ Rugby World magazine.

Honiss gives it away when he explains "how influential the performance of the man in the middle was in both [Bledisloe] Test matches".

The world's most experienced referee analysed the efforts of South Africans Craig Joubert in Sydney, where the Wallabies won 34-19, and Mark Lawrence in Auckland, where the All Blacks won 39-10. Honiss wrote that in the first Test: "The All Blacks were not allowed to scrummage effectively due to the collapsing tactics of the Wallabies, which were rewarded with re-sets [allowing the Wallabies to secure a more competitive engagement], the odd penalty and free kick, but generally untidy ball for the All Blacks to attack from.

'Constant pressure'

"It was also considered that the Wallabies outclassed us in the tactical kicking game, however, closer examination reveals that the chasers of the kicks were invariably starting from an offside position [in front of the kicker], therefore shutting down the counter-attacking opportunities of the All Blacks."

Honiss thought the tactics of the Wallabies breakaways (George Smith and Rocky Elsom) at the breakdown were "very questionable, with constant pressure being applied ahead of the offside line, placing illegal pressure on the delivery of the ball from the tackle zone, resulting in a poor attacking platform".

Apparently other important decisions went the Wallabies' way, including All Blacks winger Sitiveni Sivivatu being challenged without the ball. At least Honiss concedes "these things will happen from time to time because referees are human beings - just like the players, we make mistakes".

That's reassuring.

A week on, and Lawrence, who apart from being a referee is an amateur magician, was, according to Honiss, right on to the Wallabies, and wasn't going to allow any rabbit-out-of-the-hat tricks. This time, the All Blacks were "allowed to scrummage and dominate the Wallabies at the set-piece, disrupting their ability to create a good attacking platform".

'Recycled ball'

This created the confidence for the All Blacks "to systematically destroy the Wallabies potent weapon, their line-out".

"The presence of Richie McCaw was there for all to see, but so was the vigilance of the referee to ensure the Wallabies remained onside at the breakdown and attacked recycled ball through the gate," Honiss wrote. "This effectively saw one Wallabies player very lucky not to be yellow carded for repeated infringements, and his frustrations were clear for all to see when he remonstrated with the referee to check one of his decisions on the big screen replay."

Honiss doesn't name the naughty Wallaby, but as his column is accompanied by a photograph of Lawrence chastising Smith one could assume the openside was the guilty party. On Saturday, the Brisbane Test will be refereed by another South African, Jonathan Kaplan. Wonder how many times the Wallabies will suffer scrummaging and offside penalties' Worth keeping count.

- Rugby Heaven