How Pathetic was the South African Ref !!!?

Terrible refing/assistant refing, I am a kiwi but yellow/red cards have ruined every tri-nations match so far. I just want to watch 80 minutes of rugby without a card especially when only about 1 of the about 7 awarded was actually deserved. As Tana Umaga once told the ref "We're not playing tiddlywinks here mate"

Joubert's actually did a pretty good job refereeing the match. It was the touch judges who were terrible.

Drew Mitchell's first yellow card was an awful decision. Drew Mitchells second yellow however was the right decision. He knocked the ball down when the All-Blacks were looking to do a quick lineout. Joubert had already handed out three penalties for similar offenses and told both captains that he'd give a yellow card to the next player who committed the same offense.

Mitchell knew he was on thin ice after his first yellow and he knew he'd be sent off if he got another yellow card. The referee was hesitant to send him off since he knew it would cause a huge impact on the match, but he really had no choice.

The Owen Franks yellow card was a very bad call though. His arms were in front of his shoulders and he was clearly trying to grab the player. Unfortunately, he mistimed the tackle and ended up hitting the player with his shoulder. He should have been penalised for being offside, but not for the tackle.

The Whitelock penalty was also a bad decision. Whitelock lifted the player, then McCaw came in and helped him put the player on the ground safely. There was nothing dangerous about the tackle. Mind you, the referees are trying to stamp down on the lifting tackles, so you can't really blame Kaplan for being a bit overeager.

Mitchell's first yellow and Frankses yellow were both called by the touch judges. The only incident Joubert saw properly was the Whitelock tackle and he probably would have overlooked it if Kaplan hadn't put up his flag. Joubert didn't even look at the players number (he was in a great position to see the tackle), so he mustn't have thought too much of it.

No sympathy at all for Mitchell. Joubert had earlier called out both captains regarding getting rid of the ball after a penalty. A harsh call but it was the right one. I wasn't too happy with the ref either but he wasn't the one showing ill discipline through the game, nor missing first up tackles. After the way Mitchell scored the first try you would have expected the Wallabies to be aware of a charge down. They weren't. Just poor play and the ABs were good enough to take advantage of it. I thought there were some poor selections for the Wallabies and my thoughts were confirmed. Our commentators complained that Pocock (I think) should have been awarded a try. We didn't deserve a bonus point on that performance.

Kuruki,

I thought Joubert was pretty fair actually. Yeah, he got a few wrong, but every ref does. Kraplan on the other hand - he's an idiot and the most over-rated pea-blower running around. he reffed the game - very badly - from the sideline. He needs to be sanctioned by Paddy o'Briend for having a negative impact on the game.

Pretty sure AB would still have won (they were by far the better team) but we would've seen a different outcome in some way had Kraplan not been there, sending off guys for little or no reason.

Hey Staggy i am not complaining. The AB's got a lot of bad calls but won. No complaints here.

They are a true champion team the bounce of the ball, dubious scrum penalties, strange non forward pass calls in front of the ref and touch judge a sin binning and how do they respond keep on attacking. Teams like yours have to learn thar discilpline and courage win matches just as much as skill. The Saffas and Aussie know if you let the AB's play you get beat so resort to slowing the ball down which leads to penalties.

So the AB's have the big 15 points from three matches and the Tri Nations as good as won. One bonus point will be enough to beat SA with Aussie needing to win all their matches to get in front and that will not happen.

The Drew Mitchell sending off was probably a bit over the top. A penalty offense yes, a red card ?

Ok , the Ref did give a warning prior to this , but still...

And come on , how times in tests has Jimmy Cowan committed this same offense ?

As for the Ref overall, I probably agree with you.

The game is evolving and the refs are being required to interpret the changing laws as best they can. Coaches have to ensure their players understand these changing laws. I am a kiwi in wonderful OZ. Both teams should be proud and both have to learn from this game. But its all about tries. The best two teams in the world, by far, played last night. NZ and OZ, hold your heads up high!!

Ref was alright, the discipline of the Wallabies let them down and a rampant allblack team. Great game.

I love it, I absolutely love it! So Mr. Kuruki, who are the whingers now? The Bok supporters or Wallaby/All Black supporters? Welcome to the life of a Bok fan son.

I'll tell you straight up, there was nothing wrong with Joubert. He may of been a little harsh, in retrospect this shows you what the AB's and Wallabies were getting away with when SA had those fine Northern Hemisphere refs, but importantly, he was consistent. Each team got warned and penalised for the same thing. He pulled aside both McCaw and Elsom and told them he'll go to the cards more readily if both sides continued their nonsense prior to Mitchell's 2nd yellow.

And if you'd have payed attention Mr. Kuruki, you would have heard the Wallaby coach himself, Robbie Deans, lament his teams poor discipline at half-time. And guess what, Mitchell got nicked for his poor discipline. Joubert warned both sides, and acted.

That my friends, is the perfect example of consistent and fair refereeing. So, to all you hypocrites, you know where to go and shove your complaints. Enjoy.

this just proves that no matter what, we always look at the ref rather than our own players. dude the wallabies were outplayed and not just a little (look at the scoreboard)