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McKenzie seething with referee
By Peter Jenkins
May 21, 2006
WARATAHS coach Ewen McKenzie will lodge an official complaint about South African referee Jonathan Kaplan's handling of Friday night's semi-final loss in Wellington.
A seething McKenzie confirmed last night he would detail a string of decisions in the 14-16 defeat to the Hurricanes that completed a late-season collapse from NSW and dumped them from title contention.
Annoyed initially by two scrum rulings that turned into a 10-point punishment, McKenzie rolled out a lengthier log of alleged injustices after watching a replay of the game in the early hours yesterday.
His grievances included:
Skipper Chris Whitaker being marched 10m and into goalkicking range for the Hurricanes;
Kaplan failing to play a reasonable advantage when NSW was in a try-scoring position;
The referee approaching a NSW forward, not the team captain, to make a key second-half decision;
A lineout penalty against flanker Phil Waugh that McKenzie claims was inconsistent with other rulings;
NSW being penalised for a collapsed scrum that gave the Hurricanes a match-winning penalty;
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Kaplan failing to penalise the Kiwis for wheeling a scrum and then giving the Hurricanes the feed from the reset, which led to their only try.
"I will detail it," said McKenzie, who will send his protest to tournament bosses via the Australian Rugby Union. "All I want is consistency. All I ever talk about is consistency. And I don't know how it can all be so inconsistent.
"I've bitten my tongue for a long time but I'll be outlining it now because it doesn't seem to get any better."
The Waratahs have lost 12 successive games on the road with Kaplan in control.
"I've been aware of the statistics for some time," McKenzie said.
"I've sat on them assuming things will get better. But they haven't."
McKenzie was livid about the brief advantage Kaplan played as the Waratahs attacked deep inside the Hurricanes quarter while trailing 13-11 in the 67th minute.
NSW had formed a driving maul from a lineout, only to have the Hurricanes infringe short of the line. Kaplan held out an arm for advantage but did not allow play to develop beyond one more phase before awarding the Waratahs a penalty near touch.
Winger Peter Hewat kicked the three points to put NSW one point in front - a lead wiped out when Kaplan controversially penalised the Waratahs for collapsing a scrum three minutes later.
"What advantage was there for us near their line," McKenzie said. "We virtually drove that maul over before [the Hurricanes infringed], so it should have been a penalty try, to be honest. Then when [centre Sam] Norton-Knight hits it up under the posts he blows play up and takes it back to give us a penalty on the sideline. We had numbers on them if he lets play continue.
"If he gives us three phases before calling it up, like he gave them, maybe we score a try and we're in front by three, possibly five.
"It was the only time in the game he played a one-phase advantage."
By Peter Jenkins
May 21, 2006
WARATAHS coach Ewen McKenzie will lodge an official complaint about South African referee Jonathan Kaplan's handling of Friday night's semi-final loss in Wellington.
A seething McKenzie confirmed last night he would detail a string of decisions in the 14-16 defeat to the Hurricanes that completed a late-season collapse from NSW and dumped them from title contention.
Annoyed initially by two scrum rulings that turned into a 10-point punishment, McKenzie rolled out a lengthier log of alleged injustices after watching a replay of the game in the early hours yesterday.
His grievances included:
Skipper Chris Whitaker being marched 10m and into goalkicking range for the Hurricanes;
Kaplan failing to play a reasonable advantage when NSW was in a try-scoring position;
The referee approaching a NSW forward, not the team captain, to make a key second-half decision;
A lineout penalty against flanker Phil Waugh that McKenzie claims was inconsistent with other rulings;
NSW being penalised for a collapsed scrum that gave the Hurricanes a match-winning penalty;
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Kaplan failing to penalise the Kiwis for wheeling a scrum and then giving the Hurricanes the feed from the reset, which led to their only try.
"I will detail it," said McKenzie, who will send his protest to tournament bosses via the Australian Rugby Union. "All I want is consistency. All I ever talk about is consistency. And I don't know how it can all be so inconsistent.
"I've bitten my tongue for a long time but I'll be outlining it now because it doesn't seem to get any better."
The Waratahs have lost 12 successive games on the road with Kaplan in control.
"I've been aware of the statistics for some time," McKenzie said.
"I've sat on them assuming things will get better. But they haven't."
McKenzie was livid about the brief advantage Kaplan played as the Waratahs attacked deep inside the Hurricanes quarter while trailing 13-11 in the 67th minute.
NSW had formed a driving maul from a lineout, only to have the Hurricanes infringe short of the line. Kaplan held out an arm for advantage but did not allow play to develop beyond one more phase before awarding the Waratahs a penalty near touch.
Winger Peter Hewat kicked the three points to put NSW one point in front - a lead wiped out when Kaplan controversially penalised the Waratahs for collapsing a scrum three minutes later.
"What advantage was there for us near their line," McKenzie said. "We virtually drove that maul over before [the Hurricanes infringed], so it should have been a penalty try, to be honest. Then when [centre Sam] Norton-Knight hits it up under the posts he blows play up and takes it back to give us a penalty on the sideline. We had numbers on them if he lets play continue.
"If he gives us three phases before calling it up, like he gave them, maybe we score a try and we're in front by three, possibly five.
"It was the only time in the game he played a one-phase advantage."
