Pressure is growing to stand-down Kiwi referee Bryce Lawrence following decisions he made (or rather, didn’t make) during world cup rugby matches, culminating with the shock defeat of the present champions by the Wallabies.
A Facebook page titled Petition To Stop Bryce Lawrence Ever Reffing A Rugby Game Again has already gathered over 12, 000 likes. Strike that – it’s now 50,000
Even impartial observers writing for a broadsheet in Britain have expressed their dismay at the quality of Bryce Lawrence’s refereeing.
Mark Reason of the Daily Telegraph wrote
“Mr Bryce Lawrence, the son of an official, is rated rather highly by those in charge of the whistle blowers. But a lot of players and fans have absolutely no idea why. He made a complete hash of today’s game between Australia and South Africa and the Springboks will be furious.
They identified the breakdown as a crucial area of the match beforehand, but they did expect there to be some sort of reffing.
The South Africans thought that the tackler would have to release the ball carrier. They thought that the offside line would be respected. They thought that men would have to stay on the feet. Instead it was a complete shambles.
The trouble is that Lawrence has form at this sort of thing. He was given the final of Super Rugby for apparently being the best ref in the tournament…
…despite all the fantastic players on the pitch, the match became a farce because Lawrence had absolutely no control over the breakdown. Players were diving in on all sides. It became a free-for-all.
What could have been a great game of rugby turned into a mess, because Lawrence did not rule the breakdown.”
Bryce Lawrence’s father is New Zealander Keith Lawrence, age 67 a former international referee.
According to an article in the NZ Herald, Keith Lawrence was a long-serving employee of the NZRU and left in July 2008 to take up a job with the International Rugby Board (IRB) as referee manager of the IRB Sevens World Series and IRB Pacific Nations Cup.
There’s an old saying in New Zealand, it’s not what you know but who you know that matters and it’s been hard for Bryce to shrug of suggestions of nepotism.
You can read some more about Bryce Lawrence’s history before the world cup started here World Cup – Referee: Bryce Lawrence
E2NZ.org 
Bryce Lawrence should not be allowed to ref schoolboy rugby, he is a disgrace to international rugby
They should also complain of the try scored by the aussies as it was off 3 penalty infringements!
The intention of this New Zealand ref (Bryce Lawrence) was clear. To eliminate springboks so that Australia will face New Zealand in the semifinal. If Springboks face it’s obvious they can beat New Zealand. RSA Rugby board must complain of the last penalty and this was done deliberately by this New Zealand refree.
BL was afraid to blow against the Aussies, and made amends for his shocking referee decisions against them with Ireland, therefore he blew against the boks for every infringement, real or imagined, and let the Aussies get away with everything. Letting him get away with this makes the IRB World Cup a farce, as we all believe that the Boks would have won. Whoever wins now, they will never be world champions.
IRB and nepotism?
You made a obvious mess not only with South Africa/Aussies but a few other games! Refs need to pay penalties for such obvious and deliberate oversight!
Fine and Ban him!
I Agree and would like to ask whether a case of match fixing can be investigated like in cricket? Further a case of injury to property by the Springbok camp and SARB for the money they have lost through the loss of income would they have won the q/f and had gone throught to the semi final and even the final