Ref warns of Gregan manipulation

[Ecky]

Anyone who has watched the Wallabies when Gregan is playing knows full well how he plays and "encourages" the referee. I don't think it will be news to this ref, even though it's his test match debut.

Anyone who has refereed, particularly at senior level, knows how "helpful" some - nay, MOST, #9's are.
(btw, Kaplan calls them "scrummy". Hopefully this is short for "scrum-half" and not some indication of how appealing he finds the player )

It seems some SA refs (Andre Watson in particular on at least two memorable occasions) take exception to the 9's continued "assistance". This in iteslf isn't a problem, it is how the ref then deals with the situation that is the issue. Watson telling Gregan not to speak to him for the remainder of the match was somewhat of an issue at thetime as Gregan happened to be captain at the time.

Seems to me George wasn't helping the team (as captain) by continuing to chirp

[jazza93]

if there is an infringment and george says so that doesnt mean the ref will give a penalty because george said, the ref will give the penalty because he saw it and george may have pointed it out to the ref which is fine if he is the captin.

[Ecky]

Why is it fine for a captain to point out an infringement?

Why wouldn't the captain let the ref ref?

[frontrow]

If the ref is crap then he may need help...seen plenty of them in my day, and having also reffed myself and copped the flak, you get used to it...But i have never heard of a ref going into a national series making references to players or anything which could be seen to influence the game in any way...

[Ecky]

...and having also reffed myself and copped the flak, you get used to it...

OK, did you accept the help from the players when they offered it? (i.e did you blow your whistle and call what the players told you)

Or did you make up your own mind about the infringement or otherwise?

And did you find any of the players just the slightest bit annoying with the help they provided?

[frontrow]

In answer to your question, no, yes and definately yes...But i didn't have people coming up to me before the game saying so and so is a pain in the arse watch him, this guy always does this etc...That is my main concern, kaplan should not have gone on record denegrating any player, especially prior to a test match...

[GIGS20]

and in the wash up of the game, Barnesey did an alright job. A bit technical in patches, pretty whistle happy,but on the whole not bad for a northern Ref. It was a far better performance than ANYTHING I've seen from Kaplan.....ever!

[Jess]

In answer to your question, no, yes and definately yes...But i didn't have people coming up to me before the game saying so and so is a pain in the arse watch him, this guy always does this etc...That is my main concern, kaplan should not have gone on record denegrating any player, especially prior to a test match...

Couldn't have said it better myself Frontrow.