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McKenzie hits out at ref complaints

Roar Guru
22nd August, 2014
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1788 Reads

Wallabies coach Ewen McKenzie has thrown All Blacks refereeing complaints back in their faces ahead of Saturday’s tense Bledisloe Cup showdown.

On arriving in Auckland, McKenzie quickly took issue with rival Steve Hansen’s criticism of Jaco Peyper’s officiating in last weekend’s 12-12 draw first Test in Sydney.

Hansen said Peyper had a “bad day at the office”, revealing the South African referee apologised to New Zealand for three short-arm scrum penalties and a yellow card to Wyatt Crockett.

But McKenzie said the All Blacks needed to look at how they’ve bent the laws over time to see how they’re now paying the price.

It comes as former Test official Jonathan Kaplan, writing in his own blog this week, said referees were now taking better action at the Kiwis’ negative slowing-down tactics under pressure.

Statistics back up Kaplan’s comments with New Zealand copping significantly more yellow cards – seven in their past 10 Tests – than in the previous four seasons.

McKenzie said Hansen’s gripes about the scrum and Crockett’s sin-binning were highly selective, and praised referees for being more consistent in punishing cynical indiscretions.

“I think teams have to look at themselves over time rather than just one game and one mistake,” he said on Friday.

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“There was three free kicks against the All Blacks (scrum) but there was still 14 more penalties against them, so it depends on which bit you want to look at.”

Australia must end a 28-year drought at Eden Park to keep the Bledisloe series alive.

It was the corresponding match 12 months ago in Wellington when McKenzie spoke out about All Blacks not being yellow-carded for piggy-back indiscretions in the first half of their 27-16 loss.

He felt there was now greater refereeing consistency under directives from the International Rugby Board and SANZAR.

While Peyper was singled out by the All Blacks, McKenzie made reference to other opinions like that of Kaplan.

“NZ were again guilty of marginal tactics under pressure,” wrote the South African, who controlled 68 Tests.

“Are the referees finally beginning to understand what needs to be done to eliminate this constant in their game when they come under pressure in their 22m area?

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“Jaco Peyper made mistakes in this game no doubt, but needs credit for dishing out the cards when they were deserved.”

The All Blacks received to just one yellow card in 12 Tests in 2011, before it grew to five in 14 in 2012 and seven from 14 last year.

Australia have their own refereeing issues to attend to in Saturday’s match with French referee Romain Poite the man who whistled their scrum off the park in last year’s Lions series-deciding loss in Sydney.

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