B&I Lions snub SA refs
September 05 2008
The British & Irish Lions have infuriated South African rugby bosses by demanding that only neutral referees be used in every provincial match on their tour next year.
The move to snub South African referees has not been well received as it effectively means that four of the world's top eight rugby referees will not play any part in the tour.
At present, the IRB's A list panel of eight referees contains four South Africans - Jonathan Kaplan, Marius Jonker, Mark Lawrence and Craig Joubert - more than any other country.
This leaves only French and New Zealand referees left for Tests since Australia are not represented on the panel. As a result Steve Walsh of New Zealand , Joel Jutge of France and one other ref will be in charge of the three Tests .
South Africa's referees boss Andre Watson told the Independent that he found the demand strange considering the calibre of South Africa's top officials.
"We are of the view that we have got half the top referees in the world. We are very happy to appoint them as neutral officials in the various provincial matches," he said.
"Neutrality is not an issue for us - we judge on competence and merit, whether people can do the job.
"So I find it (the Lions approach) strange. If the Springboks were playing provincial matches in Ireland or England, we would have no problems accepting an Irish or English referee."
Watson said that theoretically there could be question marks over a referee's competence or performance but said he would never question a leading official's neutrality.
"We are confident our referees should be doing the job. The Lions want to have the best and we believe we can give them the best," he said.
"If we did not have referees of sufficient competence, I would have been the first to say let's import some.
"But some of our top referees have done 30-40 internationals including World Cup games. "
"They've refereed 60 or more Super 14 matches and up to 100 Currie Cup games. If they are not good enough to handle those provincial games against the Lions, I question who is.
"I don't know what the Lions' motivation is over this. But I am not playing political or diplomatic games here. It seems the only criteria on which you could possibly question these officials is neutrality. "
"Competence doesn't come into it. If it is a question of neutrality, I would be angry. Referees at that level would not cheat. If that was the case, it would be a snub at refereeship."