/ 4 December 2017

Allister Coetzee takes rare rugby referee jab

Tall order: Alister Coetzee consoles Springbok captain Eben Etzebeth after the drubbing by the All Blacks. The Boks are under extreme pressure to excel against the Wallabies on Saturday.
Tall order: Alister Coetzee consoles Springbok captain Eben Etzebeth after the drubbing by the All Blacks. The Boks are under extreme pressure to excel against the Wallabies on Saturday.

It is not often that coaches at international level call out refereeing decisions after Tests, but Allister Coetzee was not holding back after Saturday’s 24-22 loss to Wales in Cardiff.

Coetzee’s gripe was not necessarily with referee Wayne Barnes, but more with TMO, Rowan Kitt .

The incident in question came in the 19th minute when Springbok hooker Malcolm Marx went crashing towards the line.

It looked like he had wriggled his way over, but Barnes sent the decision upstairs.

Marx was certain he had scored, but after looking at numerous replays, Kitt decided he could not see any clear grounding and that he could not award the try.

It was a massive moment in the match with the Boks already on the back foot at 14-0 down. They would fight their way back, but in the end they fell just short.

Speaking after the match, Coetzee gave his opinion on the incident.

“I felt Malcolm Marx’s was definitely a try. The question was: try, no try? We had them,” Coetzee said.

When further probed on the decision, Coetzee responded: “I am convinced he grounded the ball. You can speak to the players.”

The coach felt hard done by generally.

“I feel that the bounce of the ball doesn’t favour us at all. The odd call also doesn’t go our way,” he said.

“But cowboys don’t cry … we have learnt a lot and there is a massive improvement since last year.”

Coetzee and the Boks arrive back in South Africa on Monday, and there remains a lot of doubt over the coach’s future. – Sport24