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Bryce Lawrence - JO'N forced my retirement

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PaarlBok

PaarlBok

Rod McCall (65)
Isnt ONeil suppose to do something about the developement of refs within the Australia Rugby Union structures? Why dont we have any Aussie refs in SupeRugby?
 
Inside Shoulder

Inside Shoulder

Nathan Sharpe (72)
PaarlBok said:
Isnt ONeil suppose to do something about the developement of refs within the Australia Rugby Union structures? Why dont we have any Aussie refs in SupeRugby?
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Thats being addressed in the review he "initiated" in 2008 but which is yet to see the light of day.
Terra Australis is a very ancient land - we didnt get where we are by rushing.
 
The Red Baron

The Red Baron

Chilla Wilson (44)
Baldric said:
At the last RWC I thought that they invited the wrong Lawrence by mistake. He should never have been there. I think he was always punching above his weight as a ref.
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In my opinion, Mark Lawrence is one of the best refs about. He is very clear in his rulings, he explains his rulings quite well, he lets the game flow and he generally doesn't take shit from the players. By far though, his best attribute is the fact that he appears to enjoy every minute he is out on the field. He is a quirky character as well. Not Billy Bowden quirky, but quirky nonetheless.

My other half loves him. Trust me, that's is a glowing endorsement for the guy! Why he wasn't reffing at the RWC is beyond me.
 
ACR

ACR

Desmond Connor (43)
Bruwheresmycar said:
snip\.. I'm just concerned that we are caving into pressure a bit to much nowdays. Just because the ignorant masses were probably right about Bryce's days coming to an end, I'd put that down to blind luck if anything. If it were up to them, Wayne Barnes would have retired 4 years ago, which would have been terrible. ../snip
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Waynes Barnes did have a terrible game in 2007. The few times I've seen him since I thought he was rather decent. I think if a referee communicates well they are half way there, or else it just seems like they know what's going on. The rest is just all too grey for me to judge a referee on, probably a harder job than playing the actual game. Kudos to anyone who blows a whistle, and has dealt with my death stares in the past.
 
The Red Baron

The Red Baron

Chilla Wilson (44)
Gagger said:
Mark's got killer hair highlights as well - he rocks!
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Oh yeah, forgot that. Maybe that is why my missus likes him.. (No way I am getting highlights though! I had purple, bright red, and bleached hair as a teen. I believe that this is the reason I am starting to go so grey now!)
 
Bardon

Bardon

Peter Fenwicke (45)
Up North there's a new batch of officials getting experience at Heineken Cup level this year. Guess it will be the same for 2013 S15 season. Then a lot of those guys will probably be at the 2015 WC.
 
hawktrain

hawktrain

Ted Thorn (20)
I feel a bit bad for him honestly, he gets judged on one awful game he had, but such is life. He was a pretty good referee before that, and I remember thinking he was definitely the right choice for the S15 Final last year, being clearly the best performing ref at the time. 200 games is a hell of an achievement, and I'm sure he will go into a pretty happy retirement.

I think a lot of the people commenting on the news story in OP need to try stepping out on the field and actually refereeing a game before they go talking about what a crock he was.
 
Scotty

Scotty

David Codey (61)
Gagger said:
I'm not surprised Bryce gets defended by Kiwis - not just because he is one - but because of his style of reffing especially at the breakdown. Those teams who could counter-ruck and disrupt at the breakdown did better under Bryce, and we know that many Kiwi teams excel at it. (As an aside I reckon Stu Dickers tended to ref to Aussie sensibilities)

When I was lucky enough to catch up with Link on the night of the S15 final, he said that knowing they had Byrce - breakdown disruption was a key plank of their strategy. It worked. I find it hilarious that McCaw could whinge about this.

So, it wasn't a flaw that was out of the blue or created by O'Neill, and indeed in the same article Bryce admits he was also crap at the S15 final, which he couldn't blame JO'N for then? Or maybe he was blaming McCaw? I don't think he has a clue.
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And it seems Bryce took it upon himself to square up the ledger this year in the Reds vs Saders where he smashed the Reds 2 : 1 in the penalties and ignored such things as McCaw's shepherd.
 
Mank

Mank

Ted Thorn (20)
hawktrain said:
I feel a bit bad for him honestly, he gets judged on one awful game he had, but such is life.
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That is not true. He had a lot of bad games. My gripe with him is he seems to decide, consciously or unconsciously, beforehand, which side he's going to referee.

That being said, I too feel sorry for the guy. He's just a person at the end of the day and being criticised and attacked at such personal levels is unacceptable for just trying to do his job. And like you said, I haven't stepped foot on a field as a referee, he has.
 
qwerty51

qwerty51

Stirling Mortlock (74)
Schadenfreude said:
I still think Bryce was worse against Oz in that game (RWC Oz vs SA). Can't figure why the saffas were so dirty about it.
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Here I was wondering if I was the only one. Totally agree, they got away with much more, forward passes, diving off their feet (who can forget Spies' infamous 'dolphin dive') and then Burger dangerously attacking Pocock's face. I think the Saffers were in disbelief that they lost that one and couldn't fault their own performance and looked at someone to blame.
 
PaarlBok

PaarlBok

Rod McCall (65)
qwerty51 said:
Here I was wondering if I was the only one. Totally agree, they got away with much more, forward passes, diving off their feet (who can forget Spies' infamous 'dolphin dive') and then Burger dangerously attacking Pocock's face. I think the Saffers were in disbelief that they lost that one and couldn't fault their own performance and looked at someone to blame.
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I sure dont hope the G&G saffers did that. Pretty funny now that ONeil has been qouted how the Aussies get on the backfoot regarding his reffing.
 
Mank

Mank

Ted Thorn (20)
qwerty51 said:
Here I was wondering if I was the only one. Totally agree, they got away with much more, forward passes, diving off their feet (who can forget Spies' infamous 'dolphin dive') and then Burger dangerously attacking Pocock's face. I think the Saffers were in disbelief that they lost that one and couldn't fault their own performance and looked at someone to blame.
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Well, we don't really want to start on this but I think you're wrong. Forward passes? SA had two legitimate passes blown as forward (one was a try, and one most likely would have been). I can remember the specifics of these, can you remember the specifics that you're talking about? The Quade Cooper pass was forward, he was static, I've watched it a number of times.

As for Spies, I don't recall the incident, but Burger should have been cited for his rake. I suspect there was an element of Greyling vs McCaw in that incident because Pocock was given freedom to do what he liked at the breakdown that game.
 
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