Lions snub South African referees

The 2009 British Lions have delivered an astonishing snub to South African referees by demanding neutral officials in every provincial match on their tour next year.

The move has stunned South African rugby officials and effectively will ban four of the world's top eight rugby referees from having any serious role in the tour. To say that feathers have been ruffled within South African rugby circles would be to minimise the issue.

The fact is that, at present, South Africa has four referees on the IRB's A list panel - Jonathan Kaplan, Marius Jonker, Mark Lawrence and Craig Joubert - which makes this country, by performance, the leading refereeing nation in the world. No other country can boast such depth in top-line refereeing resources.

The standard of refereeing worldwide is low right now, disturbingly so. Australia has no-one, New Zealand probably only Steve Walsh with Lyndon Bray retiring soon and the British Isles and Ireland is fast becoming a desert of seriously good officials, Ireland's Alain Rolland excepted. Joel Jutge is the top French official but he has been out of the game through injury.

The only possible candidates to officiate in the 3-match Test series seem to be from France and New Zealand. Australia's Stuart Dickinson, Matt Goddard and James Leckie just aren't good enough. That almost certainly puts the Tests in the hands of Steve Walsh, Joel Jutge and one other. But the reality is, if this Test series was to be refereed by the best referees in the world, Jonathan Kaplan, Alain Rolland and probably Jutge would take charge. It means once again that some of the world's best players must accept second best officials.

So for the Lions to request no South African takes charge of any of their seven provincial games is an extraordinary slight against the comparatively high standard of rugby refereeing in the country. It is hardly the best start to preparations for a tour which will dominate world rugby next year.

Andre Watson, South Africa's referee chief, said "We are of the view that we have got half the top referees in the world. We are very happy to appoint them as neutral officials in the various provincial matches. Neutrality is not an issue for us – we judge on competence and merit, whether people can do the job.

"So I find it (the Lions approach) strange. If the Springboks were playing provincial matches in Ireland or England, we would have no problems accepting an Irish or English referee."

Watson said that there might theoretically be question marks over a referee's competence or performance but said he would never question a leading official’s neutrality. "We are confident our referees should be doing the job. The Lions want to have the best and we believe we can give them the best. If we did not have referees of sufficient competence, I would have been the first to say let's import some.

"But some of our top referees have done 30-40 internationals including World Cup games. They've refereed 60 or more Super 14 matches and up to 100 Currie Cup games. If they are not good enough to handle those provincial games against the Lions, I question who is.

"I don't know what the Lions' motivation is over this; you will have to ask them. But I am not playing political or diplomatic games here. It seems the only criteria on which you could possibly question these officials, is neutrality. Competence doesn't come into it. If it is a question of neutrality, I would be angry. Referees at that level would not cheat. If that was the case, it would be a snub at refereeship."

A leading British Lions official did not return calls, last night. IRB referee supremo Paddy O'Brien refused to comment.

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