Ways of the whistle
There would have been a sigh of relief in the Springbok camp that Kiwi ref Ben O’Keefe got the nod to take charge of their Rugby World Cup semifinal against England on Saturday.
The Boks have lost just two of their 10 Tests they’ve played with O’Keefe in command of the whistle. That is of course not to say he is biased towards the Boks but that they have learnt to understand his ways.
O’Keefe, however, came in for flak from France captain Antoine Dupont after his team’s quarterfinal exit to the Springboks last Sunday. That, however, should not influence the way the doctor in ophthalmology goes about his business on Saturday.
O’Keefe will be assisted by Andrew Brace (Ireland) and Paul Williams (NZ). Brendon Pickerill (NZ) will be the TMO.
Constant Gardner
As delighted they were to get O’Keefe, the Boks were perhaps relieved they avoided Angus Gardner. They’ve have lost five of their 11 Tests with the Australian in charge, though they’ve won the last three on the trot.
Gardner was famously in charge of the Test in 2018 at Twickenham when the Boks lost 12-11 to England. His failure to sufficiently sanction Owen Farrell for another high hit late in the game got the Boks’ goat up.
Gardner will be assisted by Nic Berry (Australia), Karl Dickson (England) and Ben Whitehouse (Wales) in Friday's New Zealand vs Argentina semifinal.
Poor Peyper
Spare a thought though for South Africa’s Jaco Peyper. He has arguably been one of the top three refs in the world over the past five years but again he will miss out at the business end of the tournament.
Peyper sustained a calf injury in the quarterfinal between Argentina and Wales and was not considered for the semifinals. It is not clear whether he will recover in time to be involved for the final but for that to happen the Boks would need to lose to England.
Hunger pains
A South African TV reporter who arrived in Paris in time for the quarterfinals was aghast to find World Rugby no longer feeds the media. He had banked on being fed by World Rugby at the tournament’s main media centre at Roland Garros. Coffee, water, juice and biscuits were not what he had in mind when he opted to skip breakfast at the hotel.
Kicked to touch
The Colin Elsey Shield, now an institution at the Rugby World Cup, was contested by media practitioners on Tuesday. In the past the shield was contested by journalists and broadcasters from the northern hemisphere against their colleagues in the south, but media members are now so varied the last few editions have seen a tournament format evolve.
This year’s tournament was a non-contact (touch) format, but played along the lines of a new form of the game that will shortly be unveiled. It took a while to get used to the game that sees uncontested scrums and line-outs but the format is aimed at making the game more accessible.
A team made of French media personnel won the tournament, while South Africa did not get to play in the event. Their journalists were more than 40km away in the woods north of Paris.
Four years ago a team made up of Japanese media won the shield in Tokyo and there is now the suspicion an undesirable pattern is emerging.
Elsey, incidentally, was responsible for capturing some rugby’s iconic images, perhaps none more so than the Fran Cotton “Mudman” image from the British and Irish Lions’ tour to New Zealand in 1977.
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