As far as Rugby obsession goes it is hard to beat the South African and Kiwis for passion.
Unfortunately, at times this passion can be misplaced as their beloved All Blacks and Springboks come out on the wrong side of a result.
In conjunction with the trolling of referees certain media outlets have put the officials on the spot via polls which quite frankly pile further pressure onto an all ready difficult role.
Both sides have struggled so far this season as they have fallen to historic home losses.
Wales went into the republic and picked up a test win which quite frankly could’ve been a test series victory had they managed to hold on in the first test.
New Zealand’s plights have been even more amplified as the All Blacks fell at home to a powerful Irish side losing a first ever home series in the professional era.
Today’s results will not do either side any good as the All Blacks once again fell at home in a historic loss that saw Los Pumas pick up a first ever victory on Kiwi soil.
Jacques Nienaber’s Boks were well and truly trounced in Adelaide by a Wallabies side missing several front-line players.
The hard truth is that at this moment in time both sides are truly average, the Boks employ the worst brand of rugby in the international game. Whilst the All Blacks have yet to figure out how to remain within the current rules as they regularly infringe all the while not appearing to learn from their mistakes.
Can these issues be rectified before next year’s World Cup? Yes, certainly they can. Can the current coaching tickets be the ones to implement change? Possibly not.
Turning towards twitter, the propensity for both sets of fans to have the natural reaction of blaming the referees was rife today and is quite frankly disappointing. Their frustration at the results is fully justified however the shots at the officials are out of line.
For the game to survive respecting the officials is non-negotiable, there will always need to be someone in the middle. Online abuse will clearly be a deterrent to the next generation of whistle blowers who are all too aware of what is being said online.
All-in-all it boils down to one simple fact, no referees = no rugby.
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