SA ref bias?

Interesting stats out of Australia regarding penalties counts when a home team has home ref in charge.

Super Rugby ‘home town refs’ penalty awarded differential since 2017:
Australia (+16) 26 games
New Zealand (-15) 39 games
South Africa (+159) 48 games
Argentina (+19) 3 games Like the article says its not looking at wether they were justified penalties or not just the number of penalties awarded According to the G&G Rugby research, the penalty counts in the qualifying matches showed:

Australia – 15 wins, 8 losses, 3 draws; Winning percentage 65% (ignoring draws)

New Zealand – 16 wins, 21 losses, 2 draws; Winning percentage 43% (ignoring draws)

South Africa – 36 wins, 7 losses, 3 draws; Winning percentage 83% (ignoring draws)

Argentina – 3 wins, 0 losses, 0 draws. Winning percentage 100% 

On the surface something looks as dodgy as f*&k in SA. Would be interesting to see the same stats for games with neutral refs. 

Think SANZAR have to go back to neutral refs for all games as it doesn't look good even if the penalty count and win ratio is 100% correct, the perception is SA is being given a massive advantage by having home town refs.

Also assuming that the info supplied is correct as from what I can understand its not from any official organisation

It's just rugby. 

Are you jealous?

Stop being a crybaby.

Tinfoil hat time.

You don't understand rugby.

It swings in roundabouts.

That journo is always bashing the Boks.

Refs are professionals and never cheat. 

Great. Now that's cleared up. Find something better to do with your time, Sader.

CFan, if those stats are accurate then there is definitely cause for concern.

Must say, I never understood this bizarre decision they took a few years ago to do away with neutral refs. Makes absolutely no sense and if the reasoning was to save costs on travel then the amount of credibility and goodwill they're losing far outweighs the costs of flying a few refs around every weekend.

Sounds like your the one crying like a little baby, some one posts something that puts SA rugby in a bad light and you squeal like a little bitch lol.

And Plum where I come from those stats aren't swings and roundabouts they are so far off the others that it raises serious questions.

You sound like the politician caught with his hand in the cookie jar going around saying "nothing to see here"  and trying to divert attention away.

Bet you wouldn't be quiet if in the next 3 years those stats did a 180 and NZ had those stat advantages.

Sader, Plum is being sarcastic and mocking you because the shoe is kinda on the other foot...

BTW, the skew penalty count for the Lion's home matches has been discussed here last season. Context can't account for such a big discrepancy. I for one would like to have an in depth breakdown of this by someone like Kaplan. It does not bode well for SA Rugby.

Crusader if your statistics can indeed be verified then you can indeed have an alarming point.

Before we turn this into a dog fight, please substantiate this. A couple of other sources that agree will suffice. Not just one.

If you're right then it will set the alarm bells ringing.

Some refs I believe are professional and indeed they must be.

Although they must and not should, I believe there might be a few exceptions.

The human factor is always there.

Lol Draad.

One would have thought that was obvious.

Apparently not.

Neutral are the answer, there is absolutely no doubt about that.

One has to enjoy your sport without controversies clouding the issue, no true sportsman likes to win at the others expense.

Yes, we have plenty of cheats and thieves in SA politics but I'd hate this to spread to sporting adjudication. It would kill my enjoyment of any dual if that's the case and I'm sure most of us here.

It's very interesting to me how easy the South Africa fans find it to be objective. 

That same objectivity, in other countries, would be deemed being a sellout or traitor...unpatriotic even.

Yet, literally nobody is lashing out in defence. Everybody looks at the numbers and provides an honest opinion based on the facts.

Isn't it weird?

Almost as though we care more about the game than winning.

The funniest thing of all is how Sader entirely missed the sarcasm. 

Like he is so used to using those pathetic counter-arguments about tinfoil hats, roundabouts etc, when his refs or teams cheat, that when someone else uses them in jest, he naturally thinks one is serious.

It really shouldn't be this easy.

Not sure which is more annoying . . . this short-sighted reluctance to use neutral refs or some of the kit selections for travelling teams. The other day the Hurricanes travelled to Newlands to play the Hapless Stompies and instead of wearing their usual yellow strip that would have clearly distinguished them from the Stompies blue and white, they wore a neutral grey strip instead that hardly distinguished them at all and it was hard to tell who was who.

I mean seriously, who makes these idiotic decisions? I understand they all want to market their away strips as well but for goodness sake use a bit of judgement and discretion.

New Zealand teams won 43% of the games they played at home when there was a NZ referee?  It hardly seems credible....did 99% of all scientists agree. Or is this just another case of the Aussies can’t add?

Now just looking at 2019,  NZ teams won 15 home games and lost 3 with  a couple of draws. And we are to believe they actually lost 57% of their home games under their own refs in  a 3 years period?

Somebody should look at this guy’s numbers.

And in 2017 it  was 25 to zero in favour  of NZ teams playing in NZ. And in 2018 it was 14 to 4 NZ.

So by my rough count NZ teams lost 7 games in NZ over the 3 year period. Which means 14 of the 21 losses had to come in overseas games reffed by NZ refs. 

So these are ‘home town refs’.....reffing overseas?  Are the numbers credible?

Having a thought about this and to be fair on Crusader, he did not categorically state that was the case but put a question mark on his heading and used stats from an Australian source and not a NZ one.

The bottom line is that Neutral Refs are unquestionably needed.

A point that we all agree on. Everybody would be happy with that especially the players I'm certain.

I just shine the truth on the mountains of rugby bs....use it or discard it as you please.

Stats can be defective either way you look at it.

Neutrality would quell any argument and satisfy everybody.

There is no logical reason why this cannot be done.

Sure. But this article implies massive bias on the part of SA refs, but some of the numbers appear dubious on the face of it. In fairness they should be questioned.

.

• Facebook
• Twitter
• Whats App
• Reddit
• Email
• Comments5

Damian McKenzie and Richie Mo'unga reminded us at the weekend of the extraordinary talents that so often blaze across New Zealand Rugby. They also reminded us, unwittingly, of the crude side of the game. Mo'unga in particular was a target for the wreckers who, pumped up by their own competitive envy, go about smashing up the revellers at the dance.

The game at large has recognised that the scourge of the high tackle is a problem that cannot continue. It is simply not okay that Mckenzie and Mo'unga and the rest of the magicians should confront a painful, fuggy, drooling middle-age when their glory days have passed. It is simply not okay to let sportspeople beat each other about the head.

But New Zealand, or at least large parts of the rugby community, are still struggling to come to terms with this relatively simple concept. There are still way too many high tackles going on in Super Rugby and it is scandalous just how infrequently they are being penalised.

In the four games involving Kiwi teams at the weekend just gone, I counted around forty high or dangerous tackles (several from the opposition, particularly the Sunwolves). There was one yellow card and four penalties. That means about one in ten dangerous tackles is being penalised. So what on earth is going on?

It seems to me Rugby officiating improves at the World Cups and then slides back. There is always a cause celebre at each WC.....in 2015 the neck roll was officiated much more rigorously than before. In 2011 Warburton was shown red for a tip tackle that would have been given a yellow before the tournament.

Our reffing and rules are convoluted....but just look at the mess soccer officials are making of much simpler calls.