Murray Mexted, a former forward, has criticised the refereeing during the Springboks vs. All Blacks Rugby Championship match.
Mexted feels that Test match “flow” is being negatively impacted, so he has requested World Rugby to look into the laws of the game and the work of English referee Matthew Carley.
The referees were under pressure from South Africans.
The former loose forward for the 34 Test caps said that the outcomes in Johannesburg and Cape Town were affected by pressure on South African officials to examine the opposition more closely than they do the Springboks.
Mexted criticised Carley’s performance on The Platform NZ, calling it a “show pony” and that it detracted from the spectacle at Cape Town Stadium.
“I believe there is a lot of pressure on referees in South Africa to watch the opposition team more than the South African team because of the false pressure that is put on them by everyone,” he stated.
They can’t help it, but they unconsciously search for All Blacks’ errors on the pitch, and you can always find errors if you search for them.
“I felt that the refereeing was a disgrace in many ways; it was almost like a demonstration of how to maintain control over a game, which restricts rugby.
In my opinion, the All Blacks failed to score a try, and when I consider that the All Blacks last scored a try, it was probably six or seven years ago, so that’s a reasonable amount of time. However, I find it extremely difficult to accept that the Boks managed to score the game’s only two tries.
“There was very little flow in the game that favoured the All Blacks,” the analyst said.
The Springboks gave up a lot of possession due to skill faults because they committed so many basic mistakes, such as drop balls and knock-ons.
It was a really stressful game that you really couldn’t look away from, but I felt that the referee was the game’s show pony. I believe that the All Black team only had one seamless stretch of play.
Regretfully
Mexted thinks that Carley’s hegemony over the game should be examined since it had an impact on the All Blacks’ success and that World Rugby should consider opening up the game.
“It is unfortunate that when you watch the two best teams in the world play against each other, the guy you see most on the pitch is a referee; that’s tragic,” he continued. “I thought that he ran the whole show, there’s no doubt about that.”
“I believe World Rugby ought to have a look at that. We also had no control over that particular game; in fact, I felt we played really well in Cape Town to be in the running, but the number of players and penalties affect the entire game, and there are undoubtedly certain areas that need to be examined and cleared up.
Take the lead set by Super Rugby and SANZAAR.
The 71-year-old suggested that World Rugby adopt a more lax attitude to the legislation, similar to those of SANZAAR and Super Rugby Pacific.
On the other hand, because they work under closer scrutiny, referees in the Northern Hemisphere are stricter.
He went on, “We’ve talked about how SANZAAR is saying, if you play Super Rugby, ‘Let’s be liberal and let the game flow’ to be a success and interesting and enjoyable for people to play and watch.”
“After that, you enter an international window where British and European officials are in constant scrutiny, accustomed to consistently raising the flag and controlling play.
“I’d love to see the days when we couldn’t remember who the referee was during a game return, but that’s just my personal opinion.”
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