All Blacks Vs Boks: From the ref's side
JAMES LAWLER
Last Saturday night saw a test match that we could all be proud of, a titanic battle of the heavyweights of world rugby.
There was plenty of brilliant back play, one of the tries of the season and we finally saw how good Beauden Barrett is after the injury of Dan Carter.
And it was a 'smashed 'em bro' kind of match with brutal defence from both sets of teams - and I mean brutal defence as you could definitely hear them from where I was sitting in my seat at Eden Park.
Which lead to controversy. Was Romain Poite right to send off Bismarck du Plessis after his apparent "shoulder charge and high tackle"?
I think not. At first I thought it was from where I was sitting. But as I watched the replay of it several times, I came too the conclusion that it wasn't fair.
From where I was sitting, I could only see the shoulder go up and hit Dan. I immediately thought red and was surprised to see him get yellow. Quade Cooper must be thinking he is off the hook with all the booing here in New Zealand.
South Africa has every right to complain about the game. But they can't always go finger pointing at the ref. He was always going to get his performance reviewed as all referees do after the match.
And he was always going to be found wrong in the wrong-doing. Refs make mistakes. They're only human.
Sure it was a big game and it probably destroyed the Springboks' chances of winning the game.
But it was only 10 mins into the first half. They still had plenty of chances during the game to come back.
He made a decision in the heat of the moment and got the wrong one. We will get over it and look forward to the next one.
