Bryce Lawrence still cops criticism.

Recent article by Mark Reason on my dear, dear friend, Bruce Lawrence.

Full article by Mark Reason

Highlights.

When Lawrence reffed the recent game between the Rebels and the Blues, the Rebels captain wondered how on earth he could award the Blues a try that came from breaking off a scrum that had gone through 90. That was the match when Lawrence said, slightly desperately, that it wasn’t easy for him out there either.

Too true. His reffing of the scrum at the weekend was again a joke. Ben Franks was allowed to put his hand on the ground (illegal) and bore in (illegal) and Corey Flynn was allowed to pop up like a piece of toast (illegal). But when the Reds counterparts did the same things they were pinged, presumably on the nonsensical ground that they are not so good at scrimmaging. Where does that end? We won’t penalise Sir Richie for knocking on the ball because he is so good. Sorry, Lawrence did that as well to Will Genia’s comical outrage.

A system that continues to put Lawrence out there despite all the justified criticism has to be rotten. There are on average over 7 successful penalty goals in the Super 15 matches that Lawrence has had charge of this season. Far too many of those calls are just plain wrong. It is hard not to suspect that Lyndon Bray, the man in charge of Sanzar’s refs, is too friendly to be objective about this.

Mr Lawrence influenced the World Cup to its detriment. He is now doing the same to the Super 15. If the refs’ boss won’t step in, then maybe Sky TV should. They pay the big money. I feel sorry for Mr Lawrence because he is out of his depth and there is absolutely no place for personal abuse in these discussions. But unfortunately his mistakes are continuing to affect a lot of people’s livelihoods and it is time to blow the whistle on the New Zealander and promote an up-and-comer.

From my perspective I think it is time the situation is resolved. There cannot be that many mistakes by a referee and he continues to officiate in season defining matches.

Bryce Lawrence shoud be nowhere near top flight rugby.

On the whole I prefer SH refs but he is awful

Whilst I think that Lawrence’s decisions aren’t up to international standard, I do feel that this witch hunt to smoke him out of the game is becoming a disgrace.

A witvh hunt or a recognition he is not up to the standard required ?

There’s a facebook page in operation asking for Bryce Lawrence to be ‘removed’ from refereeing......with 82,833 followers I’d say it’s a bit of a witch hunt

OK dont agree with that but I stil ldont think he is good enough

chewed_mintie wrote:There’s a facebook page in operation asking for Bryce Lawrence to be ‘removed’ from refereeing......with 82,833 followers I’d say it’s a bit of a witch hunt

Most of them are probably south africans

A bit hysterical hey Biltong?

Hey, you know how I feel about the guy, and yes I still beleive he did us in, so I like to change his name to Bruce instead of Bryce.

But witch hunts in my view is ridiculous.

I agree the guy isn't a good referee, but most referees are on a hiding to nothing these days.

Tongue in cheeck every now and then is fine, but to go out of one's way to set up a facebook page to see how mnay others agree with you is just ridiculous.


Are you not certain about your opinion that you need 80 000 people to back you up?

Actually Biltong,I know the incidents that you are talking about in regard to Franks, I think there were about three of them.but what went through my mind at the time was,Why not let it go? they were for the briefest of moments,Im pretty sure they were before the ball went in (not certain),they made no bearing on play,they didnt give the Crusaders any unfair advantage,Is it really worth a penalty???

I think they were worth a penalty Laurie. Putting your hand on the ground stabilises you and allows you to drive upwards in effect popping your opponents head up out of the scrum which generally results in a penalty. Regardless, he refereed other aspects of the game to the letter of the law (and well beyond), why does this law get to be ignored?

I didn't actually think this game was that awful. Sure, he made some ordinary calls but almost every Super XV game this year has been filled with howlers. That said, I'm not defending him. I think he shouldn't be allowed near a big game again given that he's had plenty of chances and barely a game of his goes by without serious question marks.

Full Credit, look hes not even the best referee in New Zealand.however I am well and truely over pedantic,unneccesary,technical penalties from scrums especially before the ball has even been fed to the scrum.

I think it was in the same match that a team was pulled back for a crooked throw into an uncontested lineout,every time I see that I just wonder about some people's "rugby mentality".

I just dont think that Bryce Lawrence is of international officiating to be honest. He seems to lose control of matches far too often.

I couldn't agree more about pedantic penalties, it bugs me no end. However the Crusaders did that particular offence (hand on the ground in the scrum) time and time again which gives them a clear advantage. Let it go once, sure, after 5 times you have to do something. There were a couple of occasions where the ball was out the back of the Reds scrum ready to go but Bryce blew those up. Whether you're being pedantic or laissez-faire you have to be consistent to both teams. A 17-7 penalty count would indicate he wasn't.

Full Credit
Im not going to defend the guy,I cant recall him ever doing any favours for Auckland either.

If I recall correctly,similar comments were made last year about Lawrence towards the end of superxv,and at the time I just thought that the level was too high for him, then low and behold two months later hes in the middle of some of the biggest game on the planet.