I watched this not really fussed about who won, but I feel SA should feel hard done by. Congratulations must go out to all Aussie fans, because it was a heroic defensive effort from their team, with Pocock awesome in and around the tackle area.
I don't think SA should blame everything on Bryce Lowrence, because SA should still have won despite a few iffy decisions. The last Aus penalty was possibly a little harsh, but Rossouw was clearly seen grabbing Horwill's (I think) foot before he hit the ground. I think most people thought the penalty was for Matfield interfering, but the conversations between Lowrence and the though judge clearly stated no. 4 which was Rossouw, not Matfield. Stupid bit of play, that is often missed, but as it was picked up, a penalty was probably the correct decision.
I'm not personally convinced by the two forward pass decisions given against SA. The one in the lead up to Pieterson's disallowed try looked flat to me, it was just the momentum of de Villers that took it forward, and the fact that de Villers was knocked backwards in the tackle made it look even worse. His hands appeared to pass backwards, or at least sideways. Ref being very picky there imo. The forward pass given on the opposite side was certainly not forward, but that didn't directly result in anything for SA. The ref also called an incorrect forward pass against Aus aswell, when Cooper passed it into a SA player.
The other obvious thing missed by Lawrence, was the high tackle and choke hold on du Plessis towards the end. Certain penalty offence, that could have changed the outcome.
It's certainly not just Lawrence's fault, but a combination of the three referees on duty, Lawrence and the two touch judges. After all, most forward passes are picked up by the linesmen, not the ref's.
Unless Aus can pick their game up, I can't see them beating NZ, even if NZ weren't totally dominant against Argentina.
