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Super Rugby Round 9 Should Bryce Lawrence Ref? 11 views 11 Comments
22 April 2012 by The Swede Eaters

Scotty Donaldson looks at referee Bryce Lawrence who played a major role in the Highlanders vs Blues game. What do you think of his performance?

The Highlanders defeated the Blues 30-27 in Round 9 Super Rugby action, in my opinion the man of the match was referee Bryce Lawrence. This match was like a game of tennis as he seemed determined to penalise defensive teams when they were under pressure in their own half. The funny thing is his interpretation at the breakdown. He was letting players attack the ball whilst off their feet sometimes, or from the side, but wouldn't pull it up all the time. David Pocock realised this deficiency in Lawrence's game during their Rugby World Cup 2011 Quarter Final against South Africa and in my opinion, it is no wonder he isn't allowed to referee Super Rugby in South Africa. The only problem is that it means New Zealand teams have to put up with him refereeing more often. The amazing thing is that Bryce Lawrence was named New Zealand rugby referee of 2011.

The television news seemed to think the Blues were hard done by when it appeared that Rene Ranger was pushed which lead to a try to Kurt Baker. In my opinion it looked like Ranger was juggling the ball when tackled and from Baker's view he had possession. I think there was nothing wrong with it, but I am a Highlander's fan. Referee Bryce Lawrence did go upstairs for this one. Watch this video and decide for yourself.

Both teams were getting frustrated by Lawrence. He seemed determined to penalise the Highlanders scrum constantly, while luckily for them it didn't cost them the victory as the Blues galantly went for the win rather than settle for the draw and came up short. Was this the correct move from the Blues? A draw wasn't going to get the Blues up the ladder and it worked out better for New Zealand rugby with the Highlanders able to get more use out of four points.

Bryce Lawrence isn't the only one making bad refereeing decisions. Just look at the forward pass/knock on after 36 minutes when Israel Dagg passed the ball to Zac Guildford as Dagg scored in the corner. It added insult to injury as the Hurricanes were disallowed a try scoring opportunity because of a flat pass.

Do you think Bryce Lawrence is up to it as a rugby referee? Has technology meant that we spot referees mistakes more easily? Is the pace of rugby too difficult for rugby referees to cope with?

http://www.superrugbytips.com/2012/04/super-rugby-round-9-is-bryce-lawrence.html

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Tags: Bryce Lawrence, Super Rugby Round 9, Highlanders, Blues, Crusaders, Hurricanes.

Comments (11)

Rating:

	11 . Cave Dweller 25 Apr 2012 02:23 AM Swede I agree totally with you. The scrums is a mess really. Its more of a guessing game these days than a positive who dunnit afair. Why is this happening. Lets have a look at the targets that was set by SANZAR referee's bosses that was set for the SR competition. They are aiming for 70 percent. Now here you get a game where the resets are happening 2 to 3 every scrum. Some referees will bundle on resetting it where a other will rather start nailing them making the reset figures on the stats better but are guessing who's fault it was. Rugby is one of those games where you change one law a bit and it will directly influence a other part of the game. Yes Bryce did make mistakes so do the other refs but they are just human. Poor Bryce will always be dicected more than others and ut will not help at all with his confidence. Rugby players have bad games too but they got fans referees not. Was the Highlanders vs Blues a good match or was it a poor stop start affair? I think it was a good match and we I think TV technology has turned arm chair supporters like myself included to arm chair referees and we get angles replays etc etc where we sit and watch if the opposing team is cheating. Referees have to watch 30 professionals who will try to cheat around every corner. It is not easy to keep it up for 80 minutes and spot every single detail. Its impossible. They do not have a tv nor do we want American football tv habits in it. I cannot remember who said the following bu its a piece I memorized from a article some time ago and it sums it up the best for me "Ok, so he’s not a nuclear physicist or a sewage worker, but the rugby referee still has one of the most demanding jobs in the world. A ref needs to be a qualified lawyer. He needs to be a social worker, sorting through a number of personalities on the pitch. He needs to be a fitness freak and an anger management counsellor and a policeman and a pitch inspector. The ref then needs to make split second interpretations of hundreds of laws over and over again during the course of 80 minutes. At the end of it all, he needs the hide of a rhinoceros as the world becomes a critic." If anyone are unsure about a decission or thinks the ref was wrong here is a site of the SA rugby refs that has a feature called duty ref. Just email them with your question and it will be answered. I asked them twice already and got answered twice. A lot of times the ref answering the questions is the one who was officiating the match and they admit it when they were wrong. http://www.sareferees.com/ref-replies/duty-ref-408--stuart-berry/2829536/
	10 . The Swede Eaters 24 Apr 2012 10:23 PM Interesting Cave Dweller. I only saw the Blues vs Brumbies match after I wrote this. Yeah some shockers there! It is an interesting one with the props putting their hands on the deck. I think Mackintosh struggles a bit with his height. Towards the end though there were a few scrum collapses when the Blues hit the deck first. Scrums can be mysterious though.
	9 . Cave Dweller 24 Apr 2012 01:28 AM Thats out of the mouth of a referee http://www.sareferees.com/ref-replies/duty-ref-407--jaco-peyper/2829535/
	8 . Cave Dweller 24 Apr 2012 01:27 AM Swede Eaters looseheads use the tripod to get in under the tightheads and scrum in under them depowering their scrum shoulder - in short the Loosehead gets an unfair advantage when he doesn't bind and launches of that hand from the deck. Now – some smart coaches and Tightheads know that and they try to milk a penalty as they know we are focused on hands on the deck. It may be there technique at times to set up very low in crouch and hit down on the looseheads or crank their bind on looseheads arm... causing looseheads to drop their bind momentarily without intent...
	7 . Cave Dweller 24 Apr 2012 01:22 AM Surprisingly no one commented on the two tries between the Bulls and Brumbies which was referee error. But I guess Brice will dissected every game
	6 . CoachT 23 Apr 2012 08:11 PM NNNNNNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
	5 . kiwi_kronic 23 Apr 2012 08:57 AM The inconsistency of our refs is the biggest problem in our game, highlighted by the Dagg foward pass after a marginal foward pass call on a Dane Coles pass. Or any of the spear tackles of head high tackles that refs over re-act to. But for me the biggest issue is the penalizing of players for going off their feet at the ruck. The refs say they want players to compete at the ruck, yet if a defender goes into get the ball he gets penalized for hands in the ruck. Which is it refs? Contest or no contest? No ref will always get it right but I think they do need to relax a bit and think about their decisions instead of just blowing the whistle and then thinking of a reason for why they stopped play
	4 . The Swede Eaters 22 Apr 2012 04:40 PM Although Cave Dweller I found his rulings to be inconsistent. I remember seeing Blues entering a ruck from the side and not getting penalised and then later seeing them penalised when it looks like legitimately won the ball. The same happened in the scrum at the end where it looks like the Blues went to ground first, yet it was the Highlanders penalised. Overall, the Blues had the better scrum, but in this case the Highlanders shouldn't have been penalised.
	3 . Cave Dweller 22 Apr 2012 04:01 PM This match was like a game of tennis as he seemed determined to penalise defensive teams when they were under pressure in their own half. Well that says a lot. Pressure creates mistakes and teams conceding points.
	2 . Barcaldine Bunyips 22 Apr 2012 02:37 PM He went upstairs but only asked try/no try with regard to grounding, so video ref has no mandate to look at anything else. I remember when watching the game Lawrence saying something to the touchie "I'm a bit concerned about a push in the back" to which the touchie says something like "No it wasn't". If he was a bit concerned, then why not ask the video ref to look at that also. He's had a hard time of it over the last year and seems to have lost the confidence needed to do what is a very tough job. Every player normally makes a few errors in the course of a game and as spectators we expect that,and accept that, but unfortunately due to the focus on perfection for referees, very few are willing to cut them the same slack. I can't imagine why anyone would put up with death-threats because they made a mistake at work.
	1 . Super Bullfrogs 22 Apr 2012 02:09 AM Bryce Lawrence was off sick at the classes where most of the rules of rugby was taught to all referees. Despite his attempts to borrow the lecture notes from the other classmates (referees), none of them like him, so they refused. He now tries to ref based on his interpretations of how the various refs are reffing in the games he has watched on TV. No wonder he is so confused and inconsistent.

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