Given the amount of Wallaby infractions at the Adelaide Oval that New Zealand referee Paul Williams either didn’t notice or flagrantly disregarded, many Springbok supporters would believe that Williams “missed a good game” last week.
The tackle by Marika Koroibete on Nic White and the “slap” by Faf de Klerk on Makazole Mapimpi were the two main talking topics.
But there were plenty more incidents that Williams might have brought up to the TMO, including Folau Fainga’s purposefully collapsing a Bok maul that should have led in a yellow card and De Klerk’s alleged high tackle on Fraser McReight close to the tryline.
For the Bok faithful, there is good news ahead of the match on Saturday at Sydney’s Allianz Stadium. Ben O’Keeffe, another Kiwi, will be the one holding the whistle in the centre, but don’t worry—he will consult the TMO as needed.
In fact, he a touch overdid it with the referrals, remembering his previous Bok Test.
In fact, the 33-year-old from Blenheim is a medical doctor as well, and, surprise, surprise, he is an ophthalmologist (or, in other words, an eye doctor)! It makes sense why O’Keeffe is such an observant official.
The test in question took place at Cape Town Stadium during the second meeting between the Boks and the British & Irish Lions last year.
Following THAT video from Rassie Erasmus praising Australian Nic Berry’s performance in the first Test, the focus was squarely on O’Keeffe.
Additionally, South African TMO Marius Jonker was in a difficult position since he was hesitant to rule anything in the Boks’ favour, which was a big factor in the first Test loss.
Even though he reported events to Jonker, O’Keeffe took it upon himself to make the most of the judgments in that situation.
Therefore, O’Keeffe is unlikely to succumb to White’s request for another Oscar-worthy performance following a slap and issue a yellow card.
Additionally, you can be comfortable that O’Keeffe will at least bring the situation before the TMO for additional discussion if Koroibete attempts his no-arms tackle on Mapimpi once again.
He would also give Siya Kolisi, the captain of the Boks, more attention than Williams or Berry previously did since he was mindful to allow the No. 6 a chance to express himself in that second Lions Test.
The Wallabies’ maul defence, scrum angles, offside lines, and blocking of those Boks who pursue the box-kicks are other areas that O’Keeffe has to carefully oversee.
Williams didn’t put on his best performance at the Adelaide Oval, but the Boks only had themselves to blame since they missed several chances to score tries.
The rest of the Bok management would have spent the whole week on the practise field attempting to fix the finishing, at least Nienaber recognised that later.
In response, the coach himself selected a side with a fresh look. It will be interesting to see whether the new halfbacks Jaden Hendrikse and Damian Willemse can give the Bok attack the much-needed direction.