Cheetahs have a right to feel hard done by

Given the litigious nature of South African rugby can the day be far off that a union sues (a) a referee to overturn the result of a match; (b) a union or organisation to change a result or, (c) multiple parties for damages?

It is a thought that has been with me ever since Australian referee Peter Marshall made a succession of errors that cost the Sharks, first, a home semi-final in the Super 12 and then a place in the final in 1998.

At the time Natal president Keith Parkinson remarked that the rules official had cost his union in the vicinity of R5-million.

Since then we have continued to come to terms with the reality of rugby as a professional game and the theme of referees’ errors costing provinces massive sums of money has often been raised.

Take the Bankfin Currie Cup semi-final between Natal and the Free State Cheetahs at King’s Park – sorry, the Absa Stadium, to provide another illustration of how rugby has become a game of passing the buck instead of the ball!

My prediction of a Natal vs Western Province was realised, but not in the way expected.

I had thought the Newlands game between Province and the Lions would be the harder of the two but a jaded and subdued Lions side were never really in it while it was the Cheetahs who entangled the Sharks in a net of voracious tackling and looked to be heading for an upset.

That they failed is as a result of the way in which the decisions of referee Tappe Henning and those of his touch judges effected the eventual outcome.

With Natal battling to subdue the men from Bloemfontein Henning, with the help of a linesman, gave the Sharks a point-blank penalty in the 54th minute that enabled Gaffie du Toit to tie the scores at 15-all.

The penalty was against Hendro Scholtz, South Africa’s Josh Kronfeld look-alike, play-alike flanker, for getting on the wrong side and killing the ball.

Fair enough. But the Sharks were extremely fortunate that Albert van der Berg, showing a mean streak that took me completely by surprise, was not sent off, or at least yellow-carded, for trampling on Scholtz’s neck and head.

I have seen players sent off for far less, and I find it staggering that a touch judge standing 30 metres, or less, away cannot get the number of the culprit. Surely you see the offending rake, keep an eye on the legs, follow them up to the torso, wait for the player to turn if you have to, and identify the culprit’s number? Surely when a player’s head has been targeted you do nothing but keep an eye on the guilty player to make sure you know who is? Surely you don’t need to see a number to identify a Springbok?

Given the problems referees have in disciplinary hearings, where players (especially those who play for South Africa) sometimes arrive supported by a phalanx of lawyers, I am sure they are copping out, but that’s another problem. In the end Van der Berg received rough justice from Jaco Coetzee, who flattened him with an uppercut that would have done Mike Tyson proud, but Natal got the penalty.

I must hasten to add that Coetzee should also have got his marching orders and that Scholtz’s efforts to prevent Natal getting the ball was the first offence. But a player may also not take the law into his own hands and trampling on the head is considered one of the worst offences in the book.

If the Sharks had lost Van der Berg at that point and the penalty was turned over to the Cheetahs they would have been able to clear their lines and Natal would still have been playing catch up instead of enjoying the buoyancy of drawing level.

Next, in taking the lead, the Sharks were given the benefit of two knock-ons in the build-up that led to Butch James’ demoralising try. First Warren Brosnihan knocked on then Van der Berg made what looked rather like an Aussie Rules pass, in which the ball is propelled by hitting it, and I was pretty sure it went forward.

Both times the whistle stayed silent and the upshot was that Natal were able to gain the ascendancy and draw away with a succession of pressure-induced penalties.

A share in the revenue of the final would have meant a great deal to the Free State, just as the loss of a home final would have cost the Sharks a massive amount, and one wonders whether the day is not far off that a union goes to court armed with a video tape and a clever advocate to argue the competence of the match official or the legitimacy of his rulings.

One has only to drive a car to know the danger of blind spots and the referee’s task, without the benefit of elevation, is an onerous one. At some point, I expect, as players get bigger and faster we might also have to go to the “telly ref” on questions of foul play as well as to give him the power of intervention if there has been a clear mistake missed by the on-field official.

A final thought about the Durban game – what on earth were they up to with that long grass? If it was to restrain to the pacy Free Staters it nearly back-fired because it certainly did not seem to hold back Wylie Human in scoring his two fine tries, while at the same time softening the bounce of Gaffie du Toit and Butch James’ many kicks and robbing the Sharks pack of a solid purchase at scrum time.

Although both semis produced fine entertainment during a marathon of television watching, South Africa’s top four teams paled by comparison with New Zealand’s leading two as Wellington and Canterbury fought out an exceptional NPC final – particularly in the area of skills.

If just one flaw can be lifted out it is passing, with the leading New Zealanders just having so much more accuracy, variety, security and power when compared to their South Africa counterparts. Given that local players are now full professionals who do nothing by practise and play rugby I am constantly horrified by how badly they handle the ball or that a Springbok centre such as Robbie Fleck has so little perception of the value of a good pass.

At Newlands the Lions paid the price of having too many players either out with injury or coming back from injury and were no match for the flamboyant men of Province. There is a “joie de vivre” in Western Province rugby that has been absent for a long time, but one must never forget the “Braam factor.”,p> On Saturday he not only helped to expose the Lions’ soft underbelly in Louis Koen’s channel but contributed a full house of five penalties and four conversions for 23 points. Against this the Lions accumulated seven points from the boot. Need I say any more?

The day also provided a nice little humorous cameo – no, not Silas Nkanunu’s performance in announcing the teams; that was embarrassing, not funny. I mean the sight of Corné Krige’s shaven head – courtesy of the ministrations of his mates at his bachelor’s party.

If ever there was proof of a man who plays to the ball it is Krige’s scalp; there are more scars there than on the head of a “bergie” who has spent a lifetime feuding on muscadel! It just goes to show that if you are a ball-winning flanker – shades of Hendro Scholtz - you have to go round sticking your head into other people’s business. It reminds me of the sage counsel once given to me by former All Black coach JJ Stewart: “You don’t judge a loose forward on the paddock (field). You go into the shed (changeroom) and look for rake marks on his back. If he has none, he’s no good.”

As they say… it’s a tough old game.