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Rob Houwing, Sport24 chief writer
Cape Town – Alain Rolland is the latest referee to find himself public enemy No 1 in the eyes of the South African rugby public and commentators.
Make no mistake, New Zealand were good value for their second thumping of South Africa on the trot in the Vodacom Tri-Nations at Wellington on Saturday.
This time the margin of victory was 14 points, rather than last week’s 20, so it remained worryingly clear-cut.
But the Boks were better at the soggy Westpac Stadium, if that is any comfort -- and their task was not helped at all by Rolland’s all too clearly jaundiced showing in favour of the home side.
Perhaps the very dubious “legend” of Bakkies Botha means John Smit’s side are going to suffer for a while, whether consciously or not, at the hands of some whistle-men tarring the rest of the troops unjustly with the Botha brush.
But Rolland made a crucial, match-influencing decision as early as the fourth minute which rocked the revenge-seeking Boks right back on their feet.
Having awarded them a kickable penalty which would almost certainly have meant the morale-boosting lead in the contest, he promptly reversed it after what seemed a reasonably innocuous altercation between Danie Rossouw and All Black captain Richie McCaw, simultaneously giving the disbelieving Bok lock a sin-binning.
What followed was a 10-point turnaround as the gleeful hosts ran in two unconverted tries before Rossouw’s return, and it was always going to be a tall order from there for South Africa to turn things around despite some flickers of fightback promise.
Just as galling for Bok supporters, though, was that Rolland appeared no less well-disposed to the All Blacks for the remainder of the match, often penalising the Boks at the rucks and in the tackle when there was clear evidence he should have acted the other way in identical situations.
Indeed, fetcher McCaw got away with murder, in terms of skirting his own yellow-carding, getting a “no more” warning from Rolland on one occasion and then, remarkably, being handed what was termed an “official” last warning to save his bacon!
Rolland also took no yellow-card action when Rene Ranger blatantly shoulder-charged Bok fullback Zane Kirchner in the 35th minute.
During SuperSport commentary on the game, former Bok captain Bob Skinstad was moved to say: “He’s (only) reffing one side here.”
And afterwards there was animated studio discussion, with national flyhalf icon Naas Botha saying: “He’s blown like a home-town ref: he kept on ‘warning’ the All Blacks and it was obviously frustrating the Boks; you could hear them talking to him about it.”
Ashwin Willemse, the former Bok wing, said Rolland’s decision-making had “made a major impact on the game” and added that “interpretation” was making things too easy for referees at times.
“He made it very clear he was going to give the All Blacks the benefit of (any) doubt.”
Anchor Darren Scott weighed in on the Ranger high-tackle matter: “If that had been Butch James he would have been sent to Siberia.”
Captain Smit was surprisingly diplomatic in the pitch-side interview after the final whistle: “I was very happy with our set-pieces … (but) we weren’t allowed too much fast ball.”
He didn’t need to say much more.
The various experts’ comments were likely to have struck many South African chords in living rooms … but they also shouldn’t disguise the fact that the Boks have mounting problems, Rolland or no Rolland.
Cape Town – Alain Rolland is the latest referee to find himself public enemy No 1 in the eyes of the South African rugby public and commentators.
Make no mistake, New Zealand were good value for their second thumping of South Africa on the trot in the Vodacom Tri-Nations at Wellington on Saturday.
This time the margin of victory was 14 points, rather than last week’s 20, so it remained worryingly clear-cut.
But the Boks were better at the soggy Westpac Stadium, if that is any comfort -- and their task was not helped at all by Rolland’s all too clearly jaundiced showing in favour of the home side.
Perhaps the very dubious “legend” of Bakkies Botha means John Smit’s side are going to suffer for a while, whether consciously or not, at the hands of some whistle-men tarring the rest of the troops unjustly with the Botha brush.
But Rolland made a crucial, match-influencing decision as early as the fourth minute which rocked the revenge-seeking Boks right back on their feet.
Having awarded them a kickable penalty which would almost certainly have meant the morale-boosting lead in the contest, he promptly reversed it after what seemed a reasonably innocuous altercation between Danie Rossouw and All Black captain Richie McCaw, simultaneously giving the disbelieving Bok lock a sin-binning.
What followed was a 10-point turnaround as the gleeful hosts ran in two unconverted tries before Rossouw’s return, and it was always going to be a tall order from there for South Africa to turn things around despite some flickers of fightback promise.
Just as galling for Bok supporters, though, was that Rolland appeared no less well-disposed to the All Blacks for the remainder of the match, often penalising the Boks at the rucks and in the tackle when there was clear evidence he should have acted the other way in identical situations.
Indeed, fetcher McCaw got away with murder, in terms of skirting his own yellow-carding, getting a “no more” warning from Rolland on one occasion and then, remarkably, being handed what was termed an “official” last warning to save his bacon!
Rolland also took no yellow-card action when Rene Ranger blatantly shoulder-charged Bok fullback Zane Kirchner in the 35th minute.
During SuperSport commentary on the game, former Bok captain Bob Skinstad was moved to say: “He’s (only) reffing one side here.”
And afterwards there was animated studio discussion, with national flyhalf icon Naas Botha saying: “He’s blown like a home-town ref: he kept on ‘warning’ the All Blacks and it was obviously frustrating the Boks; you could hear them talking to him about it.”
Ashwin Willemse, the former Bok wing, said Rolland’s decision-making had “made a major impact on the game” and added that “interpretation” was making things too easy for referees at times.
“He made it very clear he was going to give the All Blacks the benefit of (any) doubt.”
Anchor Darren Scott weighed in on the Ranger high-tackle matter: “If that had been Butch James he would have been sent to Siberia.”
Captain Smit was surprisingly diplomatic in the pitch-side interview after the final whistle: “I was very happy with our set-pieces … (but) we weren’t allowed too much fast ball.”
He didn’t need to say much more.
The various experts’ comments were likely to have struck many South African chords in living rooms … but they also shouldn’t disguise the fact that the Boks have mounting problems, Rolland or no Rolland.
