Who made the big penalty call?

NAPIER, NEW ZEALAND - SEPTEMBER 06: Liam Messam of the All Blacks makes a break during The Rugby Championship match between the New Zealand All Blacks and Argentina at McLean Park on September 6, 2014 in Napier, New Zealand. (Photo by Hannah Peters/Getty Images)

NAPIER, NEW ZEALAND - SEPTEMBER 06: Liam Messam of the All Blacks makes a break during The Rugby Championship match between the New Zealand All Blacks and Argentina at McLean Park on September 6, 2014 in Napier, New Zealand. (Photo by Hannah Peters/Getty Images)

Published Oct 8, 2014

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Did the match officials pick it up or was it the television production team who saw Liam Messam’s shoulder hit on Schalk Burger?

That is the big question that has been doing the rounds in the wake of the Springboks’ 27-25 victory over the All Blacks at Ellis Park on Saturday.

The resultant penalty, in the 79th minute, was converted by Pat Lambie to give Heyneke Meyer’s Boks their first win against the world championship since August 2011.

It also brought to an end the New Zealanders’ 22-match unbeaten run.

Only a minute or more after the Messam-Burger incident, at the next stop in play, was the “hit” shown on the big screens at Ellis Park. The crowd saw it, started cheering, and only then did it appear that referee Wayne Barnes and his two assistants became aware of it.

Bok skipper Jean de Villiers then walked up to Barnes and, it would seem, asked him to have a look at it.

After some consultation between the match officials, the slow-motion replay was shown and Barnes opted to give the Boks a penalty just inside their own half. Lambie slotted it and sealed a famous win.

But who actually highlighted, and pointed out, the incident – the match officials or the television production team?

It would seem the latter, because only after it had been shown on the big screens at the ground did it appear the match officials wanted to have another look at it.

And, former referee Jonathan Kaplan agrees.

“In the end, the game came down to a decision by the TV producer to highlight a misdemeanor by Liam Messam on Schalk Burger, which all the officials missed in real time,” wrote Kaplan on the website ratetheref.co.za.

“After finding the clip, and then replaying it over and over, eventually the match officials decided it was worthy of review, and correctly awarded a penalty to the Boks which Pat Lambie converted to win the game.

“If you are a Bok supporter, you will be saying we deserved it, and how many times it happened against us. The protocol and process will mean nothing. But there is an important point to make here.

“I doubt (very much) whether that clip would have been brought up on the screen by producers in Australia or New Zealand and replayed over and over.

“Is it right that someone outside of the domain of the match officials can affect the outcome of a major Test match? And how neutral is he?

“In the end, it was his alertness that drew the attention of the crowd to the high tackle, they got into it, the officials then decided to take a look, and the resultant penalty determined the outcome.”

But South Africa’s referees boss Andre Watson hit back yesterday, saying: “I’m not sure the producers found it. The TMO got involved immediately before the next play. What happened is within the protocols of the game … they had a look at it at the next stoppage.”

Make up your own mind. It’s debatable though that had Bakkies Botha “shoulder-tackled” Richie McCaw you can almost be sure it would not have been flashed on the big screens.

But then maybe it wouldn’t have been necessary, because the assistant referees, the referee or the TMO would have first picked it up. Right?

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