All Blacks: Ref's cop-out astounds Dwyer

Jonathan Kaplan's cop-out astonished former Aussie coach Bob Dwyer (pictured). Photo / Getty Images

South African referee Jonathan Kaplan may be the next official on Paddy O'Brien's elite list to get a public dressing-down after his performance on Saturday.

Kaplan's cop-out - failing to give even a yellow card to All Blacks prop Tony Woodcock for his blatantly illegal second-half charge into the unguarded back of a player - astonished former Aussie coach Bob Dwyer.

Dwyer had been critical of the All Blacks after Melbourne, claiming they invented a new illegality each week and were offside most of the time at the breakdown. This week, the Australian turned his fire on the Wallabies - and also on Kaplan.

"Under the laws of the game, I don't think he had a choice," said Dwyer. "It was foul play and therefore a compulsory yellow card. The Australian player [Saia Faingaa] was not in the ruck, he had his back to Woodcock.

"But Woodcock clobbered him and there were no arms used either to suggest a tackle. It was an illegal charge without arms.

"I don't understand how some referees follow the law book but others don't."

O'Brien may find himself in a tight spot. Kaplan has always been regarded as one of the top match officials and the IRB referees co-ordinator may be reluctant to rebuke him publicly.

Yet that is what he did with Cobus Wessels, the South African assistant referee, after the Melbourne test between these two sides.

O'Brien, commenting on Wessels missing a couple of clear incidents, said: "At the end of the day, there has to be some accountability."

Wessels was demoted to TMO for the Christchurch test. It will be interesting to see whether Kaplan now faces a similar fate for apparently refusing to hand out a proper sanction for what appeared to be illegal and dangerous play.

The incident came at a crucial time, with the All Blacks ahead by only 17-10. Had they been forced to play with 14 men for 10 minutes after Woodcock's 51st minute offence, the outcome could have been different.

Although not in Dwyer's book. "For me, the score flattered Australia," he said. "We were poor. I said before the game I couldn't understand the selections at numbers 2, 3, 4, 8 and 12. By the end, I felt as many as seven of the side hardly deserved to be there.

"What has happened to Will Genia? He has gone from being a genius to hopeless. He was dreadful in this game.

"A third of the time he wasn't even behind the forward pack. Anthony Faingaa looked out of his class, especially in the first half, James O'Connor certainly isn't a test-class wing, and I can't believe there isn't a better No 8 available than Richard Brown.

"The backs look as though they get no coaching whatsoever. Most of the time they don't even know how to re-align."

As for the All Blacks' so-called illegalities, Dwyer was complimentary. "There were far fewer examples of that this week," he said.

The precision that has hallmarked the All Blacks' game since the start of this Tri-Nations appeared to be firmly intact as they scored two tries in the opening 14 minutes. But thereafter, as Australia got on top in terms of possession, it dissipated somewhat.

A world-class defensive performance showed these All Blacks are not just highly effective in attack with the ball in hand. Even without it, they demonstrated their quality.

Yet the Wallabies were woefully short on innovation when it came to trying to prise open the New Zealand defence. Far more invention than they possessed was needed to create openings and opportunities.