De Bruin seeking ‘fair deal’

Lions coach Swys de Bruin has ramped up the pressure on the match officials before this weekend’s Super Rugby final, claiming the Crusaders have been allowed to ‘‘get away with things’’ during their run to the decider.

The Lions are already up against it having to make the long flight from Johannesburg to Christchurch for Saturday’s finale but all de Bruin wants is a ‘‘fair deal’’.

He is particularly concerned at the amount of leeway he believes the Crusaders have been afforded at the offside line and plans to raise the issue with referee Angus Gardner.

‘‘They can’t, because they are champions and people think they are good, get away with certain stuff. And I will make sure we meet with the refs about that,’’ de Bruin told South Africa’s supersport.com.

"Because going through their clips – and you guys know me, I speak from the heart – there is a lot of things they get away with, more than other teams get away with,’’ de Bruin said.

‘‘Like the offside line, like the hit on the left hand-side on the loosehead, stuff like that. So I will have that talk like that to them. We need a fair deal, all we ask is a fair deal and I hope we will get it.’’

Eyebrows were raised in South Africa last week following Sanzaar’s decision to appoint a neutral referee, Australian Gardner, before the finalists were known. It came after complaints from New Zealand last year when South African referee Jaco Peyper was handed control of the final, also between the Lions and Crusaders.

De Bruin said he was surprised at the early appointment of

Gardner but was more concerned with the assistant referees, Kiwi Glen Jackson and Australian Nic Berry, who are responsible for patrolling the offside lines.

And the Lions coach pointed to examples during the Crusaders’ semifinal win over the Hurricanes last week.

‘‘We are not looking at that as a team, we are looking at the positives. But it is things that I

have to address and make sure,’’ de Bruin said.

‘‘There is a reason why there are 10 metres at a scrum, I looked at TJ Perenara when he touched that ball they are already five metres away, it can’t be. They have to be 10 until the ball is out. Those are the little things that we will address.’’

Meanwhile, the Lions will go into Saturday night’s final with

just one training session in the can.

De Bruin is taking a less is more approach into their third consecutive final, having arrived in Christchurch late on Tuesday night with his 25-man squad.

In a bid to avoid jet lag, the South Africans won’t adjust to the New Zealand time zone.

‘‘Our days will be moved on by four hours. We’ll only get up at 11

in the morning and then have breakfast. We’ll have dinner at like 11pm or 11.30pm. The guys will go to bed at 1am,’’ de Bruin said. ‘‘It’s now a case of less is more.’’

The Lions adopted the same system earlier in the season, when they travelled to Sydney and walloped the Waratahs 29-0 to kickoff their mixed bag of an Australasian tour.