Springbok coach Peter de Villiers will meet Paddy O’Brien, the IRB manager of referees, on Thursday, August 28 after O’Brien criticised the South Africans for post-match comments made regarding referees.
De Villiers himself highly critical of referee Matt Goddard’s interpretation of the breakdown laws after the Boks’ defeat to New Zealand last weekend and O’Brien responded by calling on de Villiers to do his talking away from the media spotlight.
De Villiers will be joined by national teams manager Andy Marinos at the Johannesburg meeting, which comes just two days before South Africa’s final Tri Nations match against Australia on August 30.
“This is an opportunity to discuss issues with the IRB, face-to-face,” said Marinos.
”There are a number of technical matters we’d like to raise but there are two issues we want to straighten out.
“We’d like to discuss our request to meet referees in the company of opposition coaches before Test matches and correct the suggestions that we have failed in our duties to provide refereeing reports to the IRB.
“Let me categorically deny that. We have submitted all the required reports to date and will submit a report on refereeing at the end of the Tri-Nations – as the tournament manual requires.
“We have enormous sympathy for referees who in some cases have had to manage blowing as many as five different sets of laws this season – it’s only natural that we’d want to talk to them about interpretations in such a complex environment.”
