You wanted proof, here it is. Todays game in The Rugby Championship between South Africa and Australia, was one of the worst and most one sided refereeing I have ever seen. Where to start? Paul Williams was absolutely horrendous with his consistency. The way he handled the rucks was just plain horrible. He just ignored Australia when they neck rolled South African players or when they entered for the ruck, but he was quick to penalize South Africa when they infringed at the breakdown. The sad part about this is that quite a few of these decisions actually resulted in points for Australia in also took points away from South Africa. So, I'll say it again. This results was influenced by bad officiating. If South Africa had any other game, we win that with no sweat.
Also it is ridiculous how Marika Koroibete gets praised for his performance when he landed 3 cheap shots to South African players. On 3 occasions he lowered his shoulder and dived recklessly at South African players. And not once did he get penalized. World Rugby is quick to hand out red cards for head to head clashed, but simply just ignored it today. Where is the consistency? As for the Mapimpi tackle, that was just ridiculous that the ref deemed him to use arms in the tackle. His hands never had any motion to wrap around the ball carrier. He just recklessly charged in with his shoulder and prevents a try being scored. Yet the ref saw something else. Then there was the Faf de Klerk yellow card when Nic White dived to milk a penalty. That moment from the ref and Nic White was just disgraceful and should never happen rugby.
It was simply one of the worst refereeing performances that I've seen in quite some time. Yet, Nothing will ever happen because World Rugby require refs to take accountability for their performances. Another week where Springbok players and coaches will get destroyed by fans and media. That is accepted, but say one bad word of the ref, then it's against the spirit of the game. Rugby is just becoming a joke.
