Super Rugby
SARU chief 'incensed' by refereeing 'inequalities'
ESPN Staff
April 14, 2015

South African Rugby Union chief executive Oregan Hoskins has launched an astonishing attack on SANZAR, saying that South African players are refereed more harshly and punished more severely than their counterparts from New Zealand and Australia.

Hoskins gave an interview to South Africa's City Press after a number of red cards for South African players, most notably those that saw Frans Steyn banned for five weeks for a tip tackle, Bismarck du Plessis suspended for four weeks for kicking a rival in the head and Jean Deysel sidelined for seven weeks after kneeing a rival in the head.

"I'm so incensed, absolutely frustrated, and the public is outraged," Hoskins told City Press, saying South African rugby officials and fans had "massive concerns ... that our players are more harshly treated".

"I didn't intend to go to the media on this, but, frankly, I've just had enough. I feel we, as administrators, are fighting one fight and do not have the support of our judicial and refereeing panels. To be absolutely honest with you, I am at my wit's end because I am seeing how we are being torn apart on the field of play and by judicial decisions - and we are not getting the support we should be getting from these people, who are part of our organisation."

Hoskins, who noted that he was "a judicial officer ... a citing commissioner, I know the drill, I studied the laws, wrote the exams, it's not like I'm standing in judgement as a layman", focused on the Super Rugby Round 8 fixture between the Sharks and the Crusaders in Durban, where Deysel was marched while three Crusaders players were handed three yellow cards, to illustrate what he said were "discrepancies" in officiating.

"Take nothing away from the Crusaders, they deserved their win, but I was on the centre line watching the dangerous high tackles and shoulder charges," Hoskins said. "The first one, on SP Marais, almost took his head off and the next, on Odwa Ndungane, went totally unpunished. Then the third one, on Deysel, almost took his neck off. [The referees] just continued to dish out yellow cards, because that's the instruction they're given. Deysel did a stupid thing, obviously, by retaliating with a knee on the guy's head, although it wasn't an injurious type of thing. But still, it is not allowed, and he got a red card and a heavy suspension - while the others were not even cited.

"There was also an incident in the previous game when Du Plessis and Steyn were sent off; when a Chiefs player dangerously kneed Cobus Reinach in the back, he wasn't even cited."

Steyn's red card for a tip tackle was subsequently overturned at his disciplinary hearing before it was reinstated, on appeal by SANZAR against its own decision, with a five-week ban.

"Steyn's situation was handled by an experienced citing administrator, who felt there were grounds for leniency, because another player was involved in the tackle," Hoskins said. Then there's an appeal by SANZAR CEO Greg Peters - of his own volition - and the banning is escalated to five weeks. How can that be? And if that is the right way to go, why are there no other citings and appeals when it appears the match officials and judicial officers have erred?"

A SANZAR spokesperson told ESPN that "Mr Hoskins is aware of the correct channels to air his concerns and he is certainly welcome to use them should he wish to receive clarification on these matters."

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