So the accent again falls on Monsieur Jérôme Garcès ahead of a Springbok Test.
His appointment to the not so insignificant occasion of a Rugby World Cup semifinal serves to heighten tension and the Boks would have taken the news like a samurai’s sword to the heart.
Not that they’d say anything publicly.
It is a curious statistic that in the 14 Tests the Boks have played with Garcès in charge they’ve only won on four occasions.
That is by far the worst record they have under all the active referees. In their last 10 Tests with Garcès in charge the Boks have only won once.
Garcès will be aided by Wayne Barnes (England) and Ben O’Keeffe (New Zealand) as assistant referees and Ben Skeen (New Zealand) as TMO.
Barnes may yet prove valuable in this mix.
In their most recent encounter with Garcès the Boks had very little joy.
He took charge of their opening match at this World Cup when New Zealand won 23-13 in Yokohama. He awarded the All Blacks more than double the number of penalties he gave to the Boks.
The All Blacks conceded just four penalties to the Boks’ nine.
The Boks lost 18 turn overs to the All Blacks 12 but the men in black were required to make 114 tackles to the Boks 107.
The Boks held 53 percent of the possession and was in the All Blacks’ half 59 percent of the time.
They even made more metres than the All Blacks and won more rucks but the crucial statistic involving the penalties somehow went against them.
The other World Cup semifinal between England and New Zealand will be handled by the widely respected Welshman Nigel Owens.
He will be assisted by Romain Poite and Pascal Gaüzère (both France) as assistant referees and Marius Jonker (South Africa) as TMO.
That probably leaves Barnes as the man most likely to ref the final should England lose to New Zealand.
Why Jerome Garces appointment to referee Wales vs Boks World Cup semi heightens tension
Image: Mike Hewitt/Getty Images
So the accent again falls on Monsieur Jérôme Garcès ahead of a Springbok Test.
His appointment to the not so insignificant occasion of a Rugby World Cup semifinal serves to heighten tension and the Boks would have taken the news like a samurai’s sword to the heart.
Not that they’d say anything publicly.
It is a curious statistic that in the 14 Tests the Boks have played with Garcès in charge they’ve only won on four occasions.
That is by far the worst record they have under all the active referees. In their last 10 Tests with Garcès in charge the Boks have only won once.
Garcès will be aided by Wayne Barnes (England) and Ben O’Keeffe (New Zealand) as assistant referees and Ben Skeen (New Zealand) as TMO.
Barnes may yet prove valuable in this mix.
In their most recent encounter with Garcès the Boks had very little joy.
He took charge of their opening match at this World Cup when New Zealand won 23-13 in Yokohama. He awarded the All Blacks more than double the number of penalties he gave to the Boks.
The All Blacks conceded just four penalties to the Boks’ nine.
The Boks lost 18 turn overs to the All Blacks 12 but the men in black were required to make 114 tackles to the Boks 107.
The Boks held 53 percent of the possession and was in the All Blacks’ half 59 percent of the time.
They even made more metres than the All Blacks and won more rucks but the crucial statistic involving the penalties somehow went against them.
The other World Cup semifinal between England and New Zealand will be handled by the widely respected Welshman Nigel Owens.
He will be assisted by Romain Poite and Pascal Gaüzère (both France) as assistant referees and Marius Jonker (South Africa) as TMO.
That probably leaves Barnes as the man most likely to ref the final should England lose to New Zealand.
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