Murray Mexted has claimed that northern hemisphere officials make the game less entertaining following the All Blacks’ clash with the Springboks last weekend.
New Zealand overcame South Africa 24-17 at Eden Park on Saturday, outplaying the visitors and winning the try count three to two.
There were few doubts about the All Blacks being the deserving winner from the huge contest in Auckland as Scott Robertson’s men dominated most of the contest.
However, the performance of referee Karl Dickson was criticised in some quarters, and Mexted felt that there were too many interruptions from his whistle.
‘The south has been better teams’
“I don’t know why we use British referees, quite frankly. I was battling to understand some of the rulings. I just think the officious nature of northern hemisphere referees is tough on southern hemisphere rugby,” he said on DSPN with Martin Devlin.
“In the southern hemisphere, we’ve got the better teams if you look at the rankings continuously, and the game seems to be more entertaining to watch.
“We want to see a real 15-man game, it’s an entertainment form, isn’t it? Kicking for touch and having scrums and lineouts isn’t. What we actually want is an entertaining match, a really good game of rugby.
“I thought the referee did a reasonable job, but I just thought he over-reffed a bit, and I would like to see that changed.
“But it was a hell of a game and I loved every minute of it.”
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Weather and officiating impacting quality
Last weekend’s match was the most eagerly anticipated encounter since the 2023 Rugby World Cup final, and in many ways, it did not disappoint.
The intensity was off the charts while the physicality was equally impressive, and despite the Springboks’ subpar performance, the world champions showed plenty of resolve to give themselves a chance at the end.
Mexted did not think the clash was of the very highest quality, though, pointing to both the weather and the officiating as to why it was not necessarily free-flowing.
“We expect such a superb standard of rugby from Test matches, especially the top two teams in the world, and that was influenced by the weather, but also influenced by the officious nature of the referee.
“I thought he should have let the game roll a little bit, instead of looking for reasons to blow the whistle every now and again. The bottom line was that it was a great battle between two teams, and I loved every second of it.”