[2017 Super Rugby] Round 13: Stormers vs. Blues (19/05/2017)

[The Jones Boy]

The truth is the Blues had a good opportunity to put this game away and get far ahead before the second yellow/red situation.
Some bad things happen in most games, it's just this one, it happened more than most.

Etzebeth should never have had a yellow and the last yellow was also dubious.
The quick tap for the try was accentuated by the fact that my beloved Blues were caught napping, they had switched off and that made the tap-and-go look worse.
You just can't switch off like that en masse.
It was amateur and we paid for it.
We are not the complete article by a long shot but we are better than last year.
That's a very pleasing situation after a long time in the rugby wilderness, for a crusty old Auckland fan.
I can remember when we were unstoppable...
Sure we are not in the play offs and we are the poorest side in NZ but we are turning a corner and hopefully Tana will get another season to let the team grow together.

 

[Larksea]

sounds like a crazy game, not seen it yet but the highlights didn't look good, one or two calls go against you and that's rugby but this is a lot worse. The shot on Francis which is as clear a Red card as you can get for that to just get an penalty is a disgrace. While Duffie's 2nd yellow looked very harsh and unnecessary. Other calls as well, very questionable result in the end. Was always going to be a very tough 1 game road trip but I expected the blues to win, and I think they are clearly the better side.
have to see if I can find a replay on sky...
Sean Treeby got 3 weeks off for the hit. 6 weeks reduced to 3 because of a clean record and early guilty plea. pretty much settles that argument.
I doubt Francis will be back anytime soon either, with a straight up OK like that he surely has to stand down for a couple of weeks at the absolute least.

 

[mania]

Please don't punish us with Aussie refs...

angusGardiner is good

 

[SomeOke]

angusGardiner is good

Please say that's sarcasm.

 

[mania]

Please say that's sarcasm.

no way, i honestly believe he's gonna have a long good career in reffing.
i didnt see him ref this past weekend. is there something i should know.
in general imo he's been awesome

 

[mania]

The truth is the Blues had a good opportunity to put this game away

agree . blues should look at themselves as well
but that try that was awarded, the player was clearly on the ground and not allowed to play the ball.
the other calls can be interpreted differently by different refs.

 

[The Jones Boy]

Ultimately, life is long and if the Stormers have to come to us next year, then we get a shot at pay back, and hopefully it will be in a season where we are getting a look in at promotion.

 

[TRF_heineken]

I agree with Smartcooky.

But I think it's terribly naive and ignorant to start throwing around words like biased referees. Especially when this same poster want to go back to the neutral referees idea, which we had in Super 12, which forced NZ and SA to play with rather poor Aussie Referees. Now with even more matches, there's still not enough quality Aussie referees to take the field. Hell, there's currently more Aussie Super Rugby teams than Aussie referees.

A lot of referees have poor games just like players, and yes, Jaco had a poor game, but there is really no need to go on this tirade against him. He wasn't alone in the decisions that were made, and here, I think all would agree, that Shaun Veldsman should just retire. He is constantly making bad calls in the TMO box, no matter the nationality of the teams on the field.

As players getting yellow carded for being offside, I think it has happened a lot this season, and this weekend alone, I think it happened in 3 different games, I know it happened in the Waratahs vs. Rebels game too. So it's that uncommon.

It's clear that the referees are a lot more strict that they were last year, and we do see soft penalties, yellow and red cards being given due to player safety.

So let's just move on from the referee topic shall we?

Congrats Stormers! There is now no way any of the other teams in their conference will be able to catch up.

 

[TRF_stormer2010]

I agree we should be asking more from refs but TBH I'll take it as I felt the Stormers were at least as hard done by in NZ only difference being the matches weren't as close so didn't seem to make as much difference.

 

[Ground We Won]

Yeah, whatever, let's just brush all this terrible officiating under the carpet and move on like it never happened and do nothing about it (again).

I'd a rather a bad Aussie ref, than a bad and biased South African ref in an NZ vs SA match. They don't even need to be Australian either, since we have Japanese and Argentinian teams.

I agree we should be asking more from refs but TBH I'll take it as I felt the Stormers were at least as hard done by in NZ only difference being the matches weren't as close so didn't seem to make as much difference.

Hard done by? Debatable.

Match handed to the NZ teams on a platter by the officials? No, not even close.

-----------------------------------

To be honest, I don't think NZ has many good officials either. There seems to be a struggle to produce good officials. South Africa usually has a good track record, better than most countries. But in this case the referee was embarrassingly bad.

 

[Caitlyn Jenner]

Please say that's sarcasm.

Gardiner is an excellent ref imo.
Actually, I think he's the best ref in the southern hemisphere.

 

[SomeOke]

Gardiner is an excellent ref imo.
Actually, I think he's the best ref in the southern hemisphere.

Hmm he's one of the guys that make me groan when I see his name before a game. Perhaps I need to give him another chance.
It's true that not many refs have stood out as excellent this year with the one exception being the guy from Japan.

 

[Caitlyn Jenner]

Hmm he's one of the guys that make me groan when I see his name before a game. Perhaps I need to give him another chance.
It's true that not many refs have stood out as excellent this year with the one exception being the guy from Japan.

I definitely think he's worth giving another chance, there's a reason why I and many others rate him so much.
And yea the Japanese dude is awesome, he's actually a close 2nd behind Gardener for me in terms of my favourite refs in the comp. He was highly impressive on the weekend!

 

[Ground We Won]

Hmm he's one of the guys that make me groan when I see his name before a game. Perhaps I need to give him another chance.
It's true that not many refs have stood out as excellent this year with the one exception being the guy from Japan.

I also vouch for Angus Gardner. He has great interpretations of the laws and he understands the players perspective.

He's the referee Glen Jackson should have been.

 

[TRF_stormer2010]

I'm glad this is getting more attention, because I was nearly booed of the boards the other week after my complaints from the Cheetahs game for something that was clear as day to me and in hindsight is now clear as day to others.

It's a shame. Because South Africa do have impartial good officials. They need to sack/warn the officials from the Highlanders and Blues fixtures and investigate them.

This is pure speculation; but I suspect the problem could run deeper and they have been asked or allowed to show bias because of the state of their rugby and I've heard rumours of corruption in their union(s).

What do the South African users make of it?

Can't really comment. TBH I think SA rugby fans in general have been a bit jaded WRT refereeing performances post Bryce Lawrence blowing us out of the 2011 RWC. I now take the odd howler as simply part and parcel of the game. I think at some stage over the last decade every SA supporter needed to decide for themselves to either accept refereeing as is or stop watching the game.

 

[smartcooky]

I remember the Sharks va Crusaders game in Christchurch. Think it was 2014. It felt so unfair and was so ****** at the time. Bismarck du Plessis was red carded for a heavy tackle on Dan Carter.

You are remembering this wrong

BdP was yellow carded for the tackle on DC in a test match in 2013 and was later yellow carded for an elbow/forearm to the face of Liam Messam. The second yellow meant red card but the forearm was worthy of a red card anyway.

In the Crusaders v Sharks match you are thinking of, was in 2014. The red card was against a Sharks player (Jean Deysel IIRC) for stamping on the head of Jordan Taufua.

 

[Caitlyn Jenner]

Yea I distinctly remember the Bismark incident, I'm sure it was in a test match at Eden Park. Definitely not Super Rugby. It truly was one of the most ridiculous sin-binnings in history. The tackle was perfectly legal and very good tackle. I don't recall the 2nd yellow card, but if it was an elbow to the face then the red was probs justified anyway.

 

[Nubiwan]

Worst thing in the world is when a refs performance dictates the outcome of a close game, as this one was. The Duffie incident could easily have been penalized, and the ref would not have been questioned. As it panned out, it raises eyebrows. Ruined the contest in some respects. Certainly made the blues job more difficult,

There was a game featuring the Bulls or stormers in NZ earlier in the series, where I thought several of the early decisions very harsh against the SA team. Pretty sure it was bulls v cru. The game ended a washout for the crusaders, but they were up 17 odd points inside 10 minutes, thanks to some very iffy reffing.

As a complete northern hemi neutral, I tend to side with and underdog, or perhaps the away side. Reckon I just don't like a ref being the focal point of any sporting event.

 

[SomeOke]

I will resolve to give Angus Gardner another chance then! As for generally bad reffing we can only hope it gets better and that the systems in place to their best to demote/promote refs based on performance.

@Nubiwan, You might be thinking of the Stormers vs Crusaders game in Cristchurch, I remember the rub of the green not going our way that day, but again, biased.

 

[Nubiwan]

Worst thing in the world is when a refs performance dictates the outcome of a close game, as this one was. The Duffie incident could easily have been penalized, and the ref would not have been questioned. As it panned out, it raises eyebrows. Ruined the contest in some respects. Certainly made the blues job more difficult,

There was a game featuring the Bulls or stormers in NZ earlier in the series, where I thought several of the early decisions very harsh against the SA team. Pretty sure it was bulls v cru. The game ended a washout for the crusaders, but they were up 17 odd points inside 10 minutes, thanks to some very iffy reffing.

As a complete northern hemi neutral, I tend to side with and underdog, or perhaps the away side. Reckon I just don't like a ref being the focal point of any sporting event.

Just checked my own posts and it was in fact the stormers away to the crusaders match where I commented.