Habana’s yellow sorrow

Ref George Clancy played party pooper Saturday when he somewhat harshly issued Bryan Habana with a yellow card. Photo by Will Russell/Gallo Images

Ref George Clancy played party pooper Saturday when he somewhat harshly issued Bryan Habana with a yellow card. Photo by Will Russell/Gallo Images

Published Sep 8, 2014

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Perth – It was supposed to be a happy day for Bryan Habana on Saturday.

Not only was he running out for his 100th Test cap in the Rugby Championship clash against the Wallabies, but he was able to lead the side out on to the field too as his wife Janine, embracing their three-month-old son Timothy, cheered him on in the Patersons Stadium stands. Even special gold boots for the occasion were on display for the golden boy of South African rugby.

But after a couple of thrill-ing line-breaks and unbelievable defence from Habana, it turned into a nightmare for him when he was given a seemingly unwarranted yellow card for a high tackle on Adam Ashley-Cooper.

Habana’s an exemplary character on and off the field, so it seemed cruel that a player of his standing had to have such an unfortunate punishment imposed on him.

But Springbok captain Jean de Villiers still felt the team could’ve pulled through to give one of his chief lieutenants the fitting reward of a win.

That is why De Villiers said he was unable to face Habana after the Boks failed to hold on to a nine-point lead in the second half to go down 24-23.

The 31-year-old Habana was extremely unlucky to cop the yellow card from Irish referee George Clancy with 14 minutes left, and Australia scored 10 points when the player was off the field to grab an unlikely victory.

“We were pretty shattered (in the change room), especially with a guy like Bryan, who has given so much to the team and done so much for the country, as he has been such a great role model for all South Africans. We were really disappointed that we couldn’t give him a win, and he is disappointed as well,” De Villiers said.

“It’s tough, but we need to move on and come back fighting (against the All Blacks this coming Saturday). After the loss in Perth, I wasn’t able to look him in the eye. It is tough, but we will have a chat and look back at the game, and take the positives out of it.”

De Villiers had run up to Clancy to try to dissuade him from branding a yellow card to Habana as the referee seemed to be reaching into his pocket after blowing his whistle as the Bok skipper had suffered a more blatant high tackle from Wallaby lock Rob Simmons that Clancy only deemed to be a penalty offence and not worth a yellow card.

Assistant referee Mike Fraser, to his credit, advised Clancy to refer the Habana incident to the TMO, New Zealander Ben Skeen.

Clancy agreed, but it appeared his mind had already been made up and flashed the yellow card for Habana, who seemed to be baffled by the big call.

“That was my message to him as well, that we want that consistency throughout the game. He obviously deemed that one to be different, and we will have a look at it again in our review of the game. You know, to sit here and complain about the referee’s decisions, I don’t think that is our way. We will take this one on the chin,” De Villiers said.

“We know we could’ve won it, and we played some good rugby at times. And probably due to our own mistakes at the end, we didn’t win. Ja, we’d like to get some clarity on some issues, but we are not going to blame the referee for his decisions.

“It’s never nice to lose, especially this way and having the lead, with the game almost wrapped up with 15 minutes to go. Then a couple of things suddenly go against us and we find ourselves with not enough points at the end.” - The Star

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