REFEREES of yesteryear were divided on the Courtney Lawes call last week. England’s Ed Morrison thought he was offside, South Africa’s Jonathan Kaplan thought Lawes was fine and England had been denied a legitimate and probably match-winning try.
It’s in the record books now so c’est la vie but the most unsatisfactory element of the entire episode was the way referee Jerome Garces, who had the most perfect view of the entire play, was virtually sidelined by the TMO Marius Jonker who lectured him like a naughty schoolboy.
All this in the week that World Rugby insisted...