Writing in The Telegraph, Brendan Venter argues that hhe only way France can beat Wales on Saturday is if the poor standard of refereeing continues and their offences at the breakdown go unnoticed.
"France are by far the least disciplined side left in the World Cup and they have no understanding of the key new breakdown directives. They go offside at rucks, the tackled player does not roll away, and they play as if they have never been informed that the tackled player must be released.
"But none of this matters if referee Alain Rolland turns a blind eye at the breakdown like Bryce Lawrence apparently did in Australia's quarter-final win over South Africa. In that game Lawrence was seemingly so overawed by the occasion that he allowed all number of transgressions to go unpunished.
"He was like a rabbit in the headlights and at one stage he appeared so visibly scared about making decisions that I almost felt sorry for him."
RSS feed
