Jonathan Kaplan criticised for Six Nations blunder, given three-week break from Super Rugby duties
South African whistleblower Jonathan Kaplan has been given a three-week break from Super Rugby duty as he comes under fire for his latest refereeing blunder.
Kaplan has been heavily criticised in the UK after he awarded Wales a controversial try in their Six Nations win over Ireland at the weekend, a decision that has been labelled "indefensible".
Wales recorded a narrow 19-13 win at Millennium Stadium after Mike Phillips crashed over in the 50th minute, but even the Welsh camp have admitted the try shouldn't have been awarded.
Phillips scored after Wales had taken a quick lineout using a different ball to the one that was kicked out of play, which is against the laws of game.
But Kaplan, who has been under fire since his poor performance in Melbourne Rebels' 25-24 win over the Brumbies last month, awarded the five-pointer without consulting the television match official.
"How they could get that wrong is indefensible," said former English referee ‘Fearless’ Fred Howard of Kaplan's decision in Cardiff.
"The ball-boy clearly used a ball which was not the one that Ireland had kicked into touch because that went into the crowd. As soon as that happened, there was no question of Wales being allowed to take a quick throw.
"The referee cannot blame his touch judge. If he did, it would be a total cop-out.
"It’s unbelievable that he missed it. It was a bog-standard decision for the referee and the try which came from it had a huge effect on the result. It was so obvious what had happened that there was never any question in my mind about it being referred to the video referee."
Ireland skipper Brian O'Driscoll was equally as critical of Kaplan.
"We were robbed," he said.
"You have a service available to cover all bases. That’s what the TMO is there for. What’s the point if you don’t use him?
"Everyone is human and wrong calls are made the whole time. That one was a hugely illegitimate try which, in the end, has made all the difference between winning and losing.
"Everyone in the stadium knew the ball had been touched by a ball-boy. It beggars belief. If I was in the wrong on something like that, I’d be embarrassed."
To make matters worse for Kaplan, he has not been selected for the next three rounds of Super Rugby action.
Kaplan was heavily criticised for awarding a soft penalty that secured the Rebels their first ever Super Rugby win at AAMI Park late last month.
Kaplan penalised Brumbies prop Salesi Ma'fu for pushing after a scrum late in the game, an incident that Fox Sports commentator Greg Clark described as "handbags".
Rebels fly half Danny Cipriani kicked the resulting penalty to secure Melbourne the win.
At the time of the incident, former Wallabies fullback Greg Martin was scathing in his criticism of the veteran whistleblower.
"Let’s see how much weight Kaplan carries because he has lost that game for the Brumbies," Martin said of the world’s most-capped Test referee.
"Perhaps he's lost it. That certainly appeared that he'd lost it."
http://www.foxsports.com.au/rugby/s...per-rugby-duties/story-e6frf4qu-1226021162636
