How long is a sevens game?

I don't understand why there's any controversy. I didn't watch the game myself but the video that poi-e put up is conclusive. The knock-on (or alleged knock-on) definitely happens with time still on the clock so the referee cannot be faulted for playing too long.

One can argue whether the ball did in fact go forward from Senatla to Kolbe (looks a bit marginal to me and definitely very unlucky) but that's not the point . . . the point of this thread is whether the ref played additional time and the answer is very clearly no, he did not.

Don't know what Draad or anyone still feels he needs to see before deciding . . . it's there on the clip. There are approx 7 seconds still on the clock when the alleged knock-on happened so the ref was 100% right to play the scrum after time was up.

Hard luck Blitzbokke but you played a great tournament and - based on this performance - I for one think we can take Gold in the Olympic Rugby Sevens.

 Draad ou barny is an ignorant twit not known for supporting SA sides. He is a hopeless cave in appeasement type. Hahahahahahahahahaha
It doesn't matter a dot if nz do or don't appoint the down under ref - they are all part of the well documented get the Jarpy campaign. 
The bias is so obvious. The kiwis can do no wrong and we are blown out of the game.Congrats to Mike to revealing this latest kiwi scandal which is being widely condemned. Good for all those standing up for a fair  deal for our players.
The kiwi larders needed a huge 8-1 penalty advantage, a yellow and extra time on the clock! Man can it get worse.Ban ALL DOWN UNDER REFS. YES I MEAN ALLBan JW for biased uniformed comment - for at least a week! Ou moooo la la la gets a month   and brycy two months because of his most unfortunate board name! 

 Draad, this thread's creating a bit of heat & it seemed appropriate to add Barney's colourful post to the mix . Unlike you though, I wouldn't call O'Brien an Aussie ...... hell, I've lived abroad for 25 plus years & still consider myself a South African & I could remain in NZ for another 25 & I doubt that my stance will change . I bet that O'Brien gets regular reminders that he hails from "across the ditch" .

The sinbinning was a crucial blow & lady luck deserted us, but as Moaner van Heerden once said, "ag man, cowboys don't cry ".

 On the final scrum, he put his hand out for the "forward" before time was up. No problem with that. 

OK I get it Draad, you don't question the refs performance yet on the other hand you question the neutral refs ability to be impartial, and frankly his credibility, purely because he's Paddy O'Brien's son...I bet had the Boks won nobody would have said a damn thing.
Sorry wreeks of sour grapes.

No apology from Dof Mike yet?

 Poi-e, not sour at all, you seem to read too much into what I said. Why do they pick neutral refs if these professionals are supposed to be impartial? 

 Hello Mike, are you there?? Poi-e and myself are still waiting for your apology and I have to go to work soon,  so please make it snappy......

 I'll just pop on the thread....that way he is sure to open it and see your request. 

 The don' t pick neutral refs because without bent refs they would get clobbered.End of story

 Wasn't there a neutral ref when we knocked you out of the world cup on our way to becoming the first team to defend the Web Ellis trophy and in doing so becoming the greatest rugby playing nation in history?
Give us a call when you have an un beaten season.
God does not favour your team.

Told you Mike would avoid this thread now he's realised what a t!t he's made of himself, where are you Dof Mike?

 So that's all it takes for CleverMike to disappear. Must be magic

 R.I.P. Mike. Falsehood perpetrator extraordinaire......

Mark Reason's take
I know the Kiwi's don't ' like him much and vice versa, but he's no SA fan either. 

Good article
So....... whose fooling who

Everyone believing that O'brien is a neutral are fooling themselves. I'm not saying he's a cheat, just not neutral, and this should have been avoided.

Very practical in his reasoning in that article
Also very hard to dispute the facts as they are presented in that article
Again..... who is fooling who
It certainly seems....... South Africans could have reason to complain or dispute the result , despite some on here saying it has no merit 

 Well, the result is done and dusted, it would just be refreshing to avoid these kind of things in stead of defending it afterwards. There is no such thing as a truly neutral ref, but IMO, just about all the top ref's try to do their jobs right all of the time, but there is a perception that Ozz and NZ refs are out to "get the yarpies"....a perception they are responsible for themselves.

Regarding how long is a rugby game is really a question of are u a rugby fan or just a SA rugby supporter at all cost.
From the video I watched it is evident that there was still time on the clock and the ref's call was spot on.

 Totally agree on that AJ, Mike made a mistake on that front, and he knows it very well.

This article would have more credibility if it didn't come from the biggest troll in New Zealand sports media.
Nobody in the republic had a problem with the refereeing after the first half, certainly not after O'Brien gave you a dubious scrum free kick from 5 metres out that was pretty much a seven point gift.  
But rather than focus on your own team's shortcomings you lot find it much more palatable to blame the ref, believe in conspiracies than admit you were beaten by a better side.  It's the same after every loss to New Zealand.  It's so very tragic.
Yet rewind to the last time the Blitz Bokkes beat the AB's,  shouldn't be hard it wasn't that long ago, you won't find Kiwi's on here bleating about the ref ad nauseum, accusing SA of of influencing world rugby, deliberately cheating of anything of the scale that you see on this thread.  The fact is SA would've won if Specman hadn't played the ball on the deck and got himself yellow carded...but you probably still would've won if Senatla didn't knock the ball forward with 8 seconds left on the clock, might of been a marginal call but hardly one you could accuse the ref of bias over.
in Sevens I wouldn't give two sh!ts if Craig Joubert was appointed to a NZ SA match, I barely saw a match without a questionable refereeing decision but the nature of the game is that possession can change hands so fast you can get the ball back if you're disciplined, if you're not you get it back from the kick off.
Lastly, frankly given O'Brien refs out of Australia his appointment to the final would have been made well before the teams to contest the final were known, if when New Zealand made the final he was stood down because of his heritage its pretty much an open admission that he can't be impartial, Steve Walsh has reffed a number of AB's matches since relocating to Australia, and apart from being a d!ck, he's always done a pretty good job.
You were beaten by a better side on the weekend, twice, might be different next weekend, it has been di fferent in other tournaments, it would just be nice if SA fans could admit that for once rather than credit the ref for every single loss you ever have the misfortune of encountering.

 Poei-e, get off your high horse. I'm well aware of RM's trolling and hinted at that in my reply....and I conceded that the Blitz Bokke made more than enough errors to lose the match without the ref's help....AND did not even criticise ONE of his calls. In fact, I  put on record that I agree with a few of the calls. I questioned his neutrality. ..and you can try to put lipstick on a monkey all you want. The turd you're polishing ain't gonna shine...ever.

 Interesting stats Brycy. No doubt Mike and Hasbeeno would've complained about O'Brien after the Commonwealth Games Final but I can't seem to find that thread!Mike's refused to apologise for his blatant BS so I gather he's out purchasing a few cartons of eggs.The quandary he will have is does he boil them for 2 minutes, 27 seconds, 20 seconds or 2 seconds??A real brain teaser for the aged gentleman!

 Saffas complaining about officiating. ..yes, we are a warsome lot, it's in our blood, but Kiwis take the cake. If you take into account the few matches you actually lose and the amount of weighing in proportion. ..some of you are still complaining about the 1950's, not to mention 2007 AND to top it all, you demanded apologies for the odd refereeing error against you lot...and actually got it a few times. Your team has a lot more sportsmanship than its supporters. God forbid the "Mighty Allblacks" should ever go through a bad patch...your islands would erupt in chaos. If you you are so upity about a few complaints when you're winning I don't even want to think what poor losers you lot might be.
Rant over, just like in SA, there are some excellent sports people in NZ too...this site too...we also have our fair share of idiots, just like you.

 So you don't question his calls but say he wasn't impartial...you duplicitous tw@t Draad, you were beaten by the better side, deal with it.

And Draad goes full Beeno, you should never go full Beeno.

 You're the one who seems to think personal insults and generalising is OK...and the ref wasn't neutral, deal with it....or go for comprehension lessons.

 Hey I'm good, we rolled you twice, you're still bleating about the ref, I would've thought you'd be used to losing to us by now, guess not.
Go have a look at yourself Draad, you've gone full Beeno.

 Nope, go have a good look in the mirror yourself before judging others.

Get some new material Draad, and good luck getting that sand out of your vag!na, you poor bitter bloke.  

 The pilshner is bitter-sweet, but I'm fine, poor...nope, my wife,  3 boys, 2 dogs and 1 bunny makes me feel like a billionaire every day. You seem to have some anger issues though.

From the man still battling to deal with the result of two sevens matches, I'd suggest you're the one with the issues buddy.
Hey you could start a Facebook page or something?

 I haven't even watched the whole HL package you provided, I've moved on before Mike made this post, but couldn't resist trolling a bit after I saw the indignation the thread spawned from some of you lot...you even started another thread to demand an apology. ..guess who also started a thread in similar vein, but yonder of the fence?

 We'll as you say you can put lipstick on a Monkey but a troll will always be a troll, but if that's how you get your jollies so be it, just know I understand it comes from a place of great bitterness, bitter at the state of your country, your sport, your life, I'm sorry about all that, but you just need to deal with it.

 And you've not been trolling? Look, it wasn't my express purpose to troll. I also had a message to get across. I don't like the way fans go about blaming refs and yes, I know Saffas are probably the most notable in this regard, but we are not alone and surely NZders have done their fair share too . We have a beautiful game with professional athletes, which generates a lot of money, yet some of the administration is very poor. WR fiddles with a lot of the laws, yet they leave room for unnecessary controversy due to short sighted blunders. I want true professionalism and we just don't get it.

 Yes we do, but the same ref was professional enough to ref you 5 times times in finals against us for 4 wins for the BlitzBokke, your first loss to us under this ref over the weekend and people lose their minds.

 True, but if it was a Pom, he would've just been incompetent and not bias. If it was a legal proceeding, or even an internal labour dispute, a judge or adjudicator should have excused themselves even if there was just the slightest chance of others perceiving them to be even slightly bias. I want the same for rugby....tough ask for a sport, but there's a lot of room for improvements. ..on and off the field.

 See there you go again, if he wasn't incompetent why was he bias in this match and not in the 4 matches he's blown wins for you.  You see how that could be perceived as sour grapes?  You never questioned his neutrality when you were winning tournaments under him.