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Cape Town - Retired South African Test referee Jonathan Kaplan says Jaco van Heerden made the right call when he dished out two cards in the Sharks’ Super Rugby clash against the Rebels at Kings Park last Friday.
Rebels prop Laurie Weeks was red carded for throwing punches at counterpart Jannie du Plessis.
Du Plessis had provoked Weeks with a slap to the head, which also saw the Springbok prop receive a yellow card.
Kaplan, writing on his website www.ratetheref.co.za, said Van Heerden made the right call by not also sending Du Plessis off.
He wrote: “I thought the decision to red card the Rebels prop, Laurie Weeks, and yellow card Jannie du Plessis was well explained by the ref Jaco van Heerden .It seemed fair enough, and I didn’t agree with studio guests on SuperSport that a punch is a punch and both deserved red.”
Weeks was cited after his side’s 25-21 loss and subsequently banned for three weeks.
Kaplan also corrected commentator Owen Nkumane after the latter made a wrong law interpretation and conveyed it to viewers.
“In addition, the commentary team conveyed incorrect information to the public without batting an eyelid. It was claimed that knocking the ball backwards should be a penalty. This is really Rugby101. When I corrected it on Twitter, they, and their fans, woke up. It really isn’t important who said what. There is only one thing that counts above others. Give the correct information to the public and allow them to make up their minds. Too often, poor information is conveyed, and all it does is confuse the public. There are too many opinions and too few experts out there. The public deserve better,” wrote Kaplan.
