WE ARE NOT REF BULLIES

LIONS DENY PUTTING THE PRESSURE ON GAME OFFICIALS

THE LIONS today rejected accusations from Steve Hansen that they are trying to bully referees.

Attack coach Rob Howley has asked the referees to ignore the noise and call the match.

All Blacks coach Hansen said yesterday: “There is no point in trying to bully the referees publicly in the media.

“We will talk about it in private and he will get his interpretations across of what he wants and it will be up to us to go out and deliver that.”

Howley agreed that the officials should simply call the match and added that he expected a good game from match referee Jaco Peyper, of South Africa — while pointing out that the All Blacks had been privy to the same discussions with World Rugby officials as the Lions.

“We had a really good meeting with the head coaches back in March, a World Rugby meeting,” Howley said. “I think Steve Hansen couldn’t make that meeting, so [All Blacks assistant coach] Ian Foster was there. And that’s what we wanted from the referees, the top five officials in world rugby were there.”

Howley said that all the Lions wanted was the officials to “referee the game, referee to the law”.

He added: “Jaco Peyper is a very good referee. He refereed our second Test in Wellington last year with Wales. And that’s all you want from a referee, is to give you a chance to win. And be consistent.

“And we felt Jaco was excellent that day, and I’m sure he’ll have a good game at the weekend.”

Both sets of coaches have the chance to speak to the officials the night before the match, which offers the chance to cut through the prematch noise.

Hansen said: “I’ll just quietly talk to [Peyper] on Friday and there are certain areas of the game we will talk about and they will be consistent