Brian Moore believes New Zealand referee Bryce Lawrence is not fit to officiate due to his influence on the destiny of the current British & Irish Lions tour. Read his thoughts in the Daily Telegraph.
"The man that has cost the Lions dear, in not one, but both Test games, is Bryce Lawrence, of New Zealand. We are not here talking about whether a pass was forward. His serious errors are incapable of rationalisation, save by the misapplication of the tenet that a referee is the sole arbiter of fact and law. That stipulation is intended to allow referees to be wrong, not stupid. If Lawrence, as touch judge, is incapable of linking the vileness of an act occurring two feet away and the proper sanction of a red card, he is not fit to officiate.
"No argument; no “it happened in the first minute”; it is wrong. To add to this failure has to be his other-worldly view of Phil Vickery, rammed five feet off his feet, then penalised for an illegal act in the previous Test. Does Lawrence, the referee then, know why lifting is illegal; is he familiar with hyperextension of the spine? How did 'the Beast’ curiously dominate, then capitulate? The previous week he was allowed to cheat with impunity; two days ago he was not; simple really."
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