England v South Africa on Saturday. Who was the blooody ref & where was he from?

Question

That try was so ours

Answer 1

Well the referee was Irish but he didn't make the decision. It was the Aussie video ref that did.

I've seen the replays and photo stills of it and can categoricaly state it was NOT a try, so get over it. If we'd been given it we would could have gone ahead and that would have changed the game. But we didn't get it and we need to move on.

I'm English just so you know where i'm coming from.

Answer 2

His name was St. David and he came from heaven!

Because the English Suck

xD

(St. David being the Patron saint of WALES)

xD

Answer 3

More excuses for losing

South Africa won they were the better team accept it

Answer 4

He was from Ireland the video ref was an aussie  so what do you expect they still did well

Answer 5

It wasn't a try.  There was a foot on the line before the ball was grounded.  That is OUT in rugby.

Answer 6

Alain Rolland was the match referee - he is from Dublin (although his father is French), and earned 3 caps for Ireland as a player before becoming a referee.

The TMO - who made the decision in question - was Stuart Dickinson, from Sydney.

In my opinion, Rolland was poor throughout - for both teams. His control of the breakdown was poor and lacked consistency. He also (for right or wrong) opted not to sin bin players for cynical offences (Moody and Burger could both have walked). His comments to Smit - telling him that Burger had been "very naughty" - were a bit ridiculous for a World Cup final - it is not schoolboy rugby after all.

What is not disputable is the TMO decision was spot on. Barnes comments during the game were ridiculous, as are Cuetos post-match comments. His foot was definitely in touch prior to the grounding of the ball.

It is unfortunate that we can not accept this decision, having previously derided the All Blacks for being sore losers over their defeat to France.

Answer 7

oh yeah cos that would of made all the difference.................

Answer 8

He hade a South African rugby shirt underneath his vest.

Answer 9

Hey I'm a mix of English and South African and have allegiences to both teams.  I actually argued FOR the try with my partner whilst it was still being decided.  Upon watching the replays however, there was no doubt that it was rightfully disalllowed.  The International Rugby Board’s Official Laws of the Game 2007 say a try must be ruled out if any part of a player touches the touchline before he grounds the ball over the try line.  (A shame really as otherwise it would have been a great try.) Even had the try been allowed and Johnny scored a conversion, the final outcome would have been the same.  England came back brilliantly but I do believe the best team won, the Boks were undefeated the entire World Cup, I don't think anyone can argue that.

Answer 10

The English boys did us proud  the disputed try was a very borderline case but I think the disision was correct as his foot was on the line before grounding  but it was so close

  Even as a lot of the Welsh say they dont care who wins as long as  it is not England   I  still think they had enough support   from BRITISH people

Answer 11

why can you not accept england are useless at all sport (except CONKERS)

they won the world championship for that

Answer 12

rolland deserved to referee the final,

he has been an excellent ref

Answer 13

goodness...still whinging.

The try has been shown to be 'no try' and it wasn't the ref that made the call, it was the TMO.

Answer 14

Allain Rolland from Ireland

Answer 15

allain rolland, a beautifull man

from Ireland, a beautifull place

Answer 16

At least he refereed the game properly unlike that a***hole Barnes. Whomever appointed him for our Quarter ought to be hanged drawn and quartered along with Jock Hobbs et al.

Guy Faukes night is coming up soon. Effigies with skyrockets inserted in various places would be appropriate methinks. ;-)

Answer 17

hes a 1st class clown and hes from another planet

Answer 18

It wasn't trust me on that.

Answer 19

An Aussie but it wasn't a tri. watch the reply?? are you blind??

Answer 20

Australian.....but South Africa was still the best team...as England "were" in 2003....

Answer 21

The video ref was an Aussie... say no more!

Answer 22

He was listening to the person who was watching the videos (from different angles), so he's not entirely to blame.

I did laugh when he said something about someone being 'naughty' though... seriously, who calls an adult naughty?!

Answer 23

Go and read the IRB Laws of Rugby. If a player's foot hits the line, he is in touch, full stop no whinging.

Any person who is able to see can watch the replays and see it.

Go back to sleep, and come back when you know a bit about it.

Answer 24

It wasn't a try.

His foot was in touch before he grounded the ball.

That is a simple fact and can be seen on tv and numerous photos.

Why do you even think it was a try?

Do you have some evidence no one else has seen?

Answer 25

The TMO was correct -  it wasn't a try. End of story.

England were "one-dimensional" - i.e. they can play one way and one way only. It was a very poor final - SA played England at their game - and had bigger match players on the night - Matfield, Montgomery, Steyne, et al.

Wilkinson is a very good rugby player - he is not just an extremely reliable kicker, he is also a very braver tackler and has a good rugby brain. But look at England's results and how they have played since 22 November 2003 in the games when he has not played.

If the IRB want to project a truly global game, then the way that England has played in the last two World Cups does not provide a product that is going to attract new followers.

Can any neutral really say that the games involving England at RWC 2007 were worth watching.

With the club and player base that England has, they should be World Champions every time.

Contrast this with Australia, when RU is a minority sport -  it is only played in a small number of places.Ask them about RL and cricket. As for New Zealand, god only knows how they managed to lose to France - but maybe five minutes of bad/wrong decisions from Mr Barnes at the beginning of the second half vs France could explain. The yellow card for McAllister caused momentum to flow to France, and later on their try was forward. But I suppose after England, every one wants to see NZ lose.

One last point - the reason that most of the rest of the world enjoys the schadenfreude of English sporting teams losing is

a) the attitude of the English media who project every game as one where England are world beaters in every sport and

b) the attitude of their teams who seem to believe they only need to turn up and they will win.

Maybe we will see more running rugby come 2011.