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At last, SANZAAR has got it right, with Angus Gardner to referee the Super Rugby final irrespective of which teams qualify.
The 33-year-old Australian missed out on a semi-final appointment with South African Jaco Peyper to referee the Crusaders-Hurricanes clash in Christchurch, and Kiwi Glen Jackson the Lions-Waratahs game in Johannesburg.
But Gardner is the best referee ahead of Jackson, Peyper, and another South African, Marius van der Westhuizen, in that order.
Gardner began his career as a 15-year-old at Shore, the GPS school at North Sydney, to become a Super Rugby referee in 2012, and has since chalked up 60 games and 15 internationals.
His last Test, between the All Blacks and France at Wellington, drew praise from All Blacks coach Steve Hansen – who rarely makes any comments about referees.
Gardner’s last Super Rugby game was the quarter-final clash between the Waratahs and the Highlanders.
If the TAB has got it right, next weeks final will be between the Crusaders and the Lions in Christchurch.
The Crusaders are $1.32, the Hurricanes $3.65, the Lions $1.27, and Waratahs $4.
But for mine, the $4 on offer for the Waratahs is a damn good bet, even though there are plenty of pluses in the Lions’ favour.
They are playing at altitude in front of their very rowdy home crowd, and are the most consistent franchise over the last two seasons in making both finals.
That they lost both to the Hurricanes, and the Crusaders, has made them very focused for tonight.
Much has been written and spoken of the Lions’ pack, and how it will dominate this evening.
But the figures don’t agree.
The Lions’ pack will consist of Jacques van Rooyen (132 kg), Malcolm Marx (114), Ruen Dreyer (110), Marvin Orie (111), Franco Mostert (108), Kwagga Smith (94), Lourens Erasmus (116), and the skipper Warren Whiteley at 105.
The Waratahs have Tom Robertson (108), Tolu Latu (110), Sekope Kepu (125), Jed Holloway (116), Rob Simmons (115), Ned Hanigan (110), Will Miller (95), and Michael Wells tipping the scales at 108.
The Lions just edge out the Waratahs 890 kgs to 887.
They do the same with the tall timbers. Four of the seven tallest players on the field will be Lions, with Erasmus (200 cm), Orie (198) Mostert (196) and Whiteley (193) just edging out Simmons (200), Holloway (195) and Hanigan (194).
But all the Waratah play-makers in Kurtley Beale, Israel Folau, and Bernard Foley will be asking of their pack will be to compete from the kick-off with controlled possession for the next 80 minutes.
The pack can do just that but, to be brutally honest, they can also go to sleep, give away far too many penalties – or both.
But if they can get it right for most of the journey, there’s no doubting the Beale-Folau-Foley combination can run away with the semi if they click in attack, and Foley, the tournament’s leading points scorer, has his kicking boots on in the rare air.
In the other semi, Super Rugby’s greatest performer the Crusaders should account for the Hurricanes.
In the 23-year history of Super Rugby, tonight will be the Crusaders 18th semi, winning 12 and losing five.
And to cap the domination, the Crusaders have won the coveted title eight times, five times more than their closest rival the Blues, and the Bulls, with three each.
So let’s have a Crusaders-Waratahs final like 2014, with the same result.