Bryce Lawrence forced to retire

At the time, to the neutrals at least, it felt like Wallaby openside David Pocock was having a storming game. It was the quarter- final of the 2011 World Cup and Australia, under all sorts of pressure against South Africa, were able to continually turnover the ball.

As the game went on, it became apparent Pocock was able to be so effective because referee Bryce Lawrence had pretty much decided to not bother controlling the breakdowns. There was laissez faire and then simply not doing anything. The Boks lost the game 11- 9 despite dominating territory and possession and they were incensed after.

“Bryce is not difficult to communicate with, he just doesn’t seem to listen very well,” said an exasperated Springbok captain John Smit. “The one positive [ of retirement] is that I won’t ever have to be reffed by him again.”

It wasn’t a great refereeing performance but nor, in truth, was it anywhere near the worst seen at that or any other World Cup and Smit’s anger seemed over the top.

Lawrence may have been lax at the breakdown but South Africa were also their own worst enemy at times – letting themselves down with poor decisionmaking and handling.

But the mood against Lawrence quickly turned sour. The reaction in South Africa was hostile – to the extent a dedicated Facebook site to have him dumped by the IRB was launched. It ended up with 76,000 likes.

The power of social media caught everyone by surprise and as anti- Lawrence grew, Sanzar felt they had no choice in early 2012 but to keep Lawrence away from the Republic. By September that year, Lawrence could see the writing was on the wall – that his reputation had been irretrievably tarnished by that one game. He retired at the age of 41.

“Sanzar used me but not in South Africa, so eventually they said it was getting tough having you in the draw.

“So I knew I was not able to referee at the level I needed to be re- contracted, really - all because of that one game.”