Mallett wants referees to travel more often

The South African coach, Nick Mallett, believes the International Rugby Board must find a solution to contrasting refereeing styles which he says have blighted Springbok performances this season.

The South African coach, Nick Mallett, believes the International Rugby Board must find a solution to contrasting refereeing styles which he says have blighted Springbok performances this season.

Mallett wants referees toofficiate in each other's hemispheres. "There was an enormous difference in the way the two northern hemisphere referees handled our games in Sydney and Christchurch to the way Andy Cole of Australia blew Saturday's match," he said. "There were far fewer penalties and stoppages and the ball was in play longer."

South Africa beat New Zealand 46-40 in Saturday's Tri-Nations match in which 10 tries were scored. Only four tries were scored in total in their defeats by the All Blacks (25-12) and Australia (26-6) in games refereed by England's Chris White and Ed Morrison.

"They [northern hemisphere boards] like to have a couple of their representatives in the Tri-Nations so that they know what rugby is like down here," Mallett added. "But the problem comes in that our players have been preparing for the Tri-Nations for three months in the Super 12 and then are refereed in a different way in the Tri-Nations.

"I don't make recommendations to the IRB but the only way to get consistency would be to get three or four of our guys refereeing in the European [Six Nations] championship and three or four of their guys refereeing in the Super 12."