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Johannesburg - South African referee Pro Legoete may be dropped from the SANZAR panel altogether while his countryman Craig Joubert was cautioned for the red card incident that led to Waratahs lock Pat O'Connor being sent off against the Bulls last Friday night.
O'Connor was exonerated by the mandatory SANZAR judicial hearing on Saturday, after no evidence of the headbutt was found that led to the Red card incident.
SANZAR referees boss Lyndon Bray told The Australian newspaper that the decision was wrong.
"We reviewed the game on Monday night and clearly the decision was wrong," SANZAR referees boss Lyndon Bray told the newspaper. "There are two aspects which are frustrating. The description of the event was not very accurate.
"The process between the referee and the assistant referee was not good. It never fleshed out the details of the incident.”
Bray said he had held a conversation with Joubert on how the incident should have been handled.
"I've spoken to Craig Joubert about how he could have handled it better, to get better information on which to base his decision. Craig was very disappointed he ended up with that decision."
Legoete's hesitation in pronouncing a red card for O'Connor's offence made Bray believe the assistant referee had perhaps not communicated the offence properly to Joubert.
"Referees are prone to make mistakes all the time," Bray said. "What we don't want is a mistake to be compounded by a process that is not good.
"An experienced referee's job is to pick up on messages he is getting. When Pro said no to a red card, clearly there was a message in that.
"It's difficult in the heat of the moment. Craig believed he was dealing with a headbutt. If they had talked through what happened, maybe they would have come up with a different outcome."
Legoete is not on duty this weekend and SANZAR will still decide whether or not he will play a part in the last round of the competition.
