Jaco Peyper rubbishes Ben O’Keeffe Springboks bias claims after ‘bitter’ Antoine Dupont criticism
Former international referee Jaco Peyper has rubbished the notion that Ben O’Keeffe is biased towards the Springboks after the New Zealander was criticised by Antoine Dupont and Eddie Jones previously.
O’Keeffe will take charge of the final 2024 Rugby Championship match between South Africa and Argentina in Nelspruit on Saturday.
It will be the first time that the New Zealander has officiated a match featuring the Springboks since the Rugby World Cup semi-final between South Africa and England last year.
He also took charge of the controversial quarter-final between the Springboks and World Cup hosts France with South Africa winning both fixtures by a single point.
Antoine Dupont and Eddie Jones’ criticism
O’Keeffe’s performance in the quarter-final drew mass criticism which was sparked by France captain Dupont’s post-match comments.
“What did you think from the outside? It’s hard to say because there’s a lot of disappointment and frustration,” the scrum-half said when asked for his views on the refereeing.
“We want to see the images again – which will give us even more disappointment and even more frustration – but I think some clear and obvious things weren’t whistled.
“I don’t know if the match was lost at that point, but at crucial moments, we could have had a penalty. When you’ve gone forward 60 metres, and you’re slowed down in the rucks, it’s pretty easy to whistle.
“I don’t want to sound bitter, moaning about the refereeing because we lost the match, but I’m not sure the refereeing was up to the challenge.
“That doesn’t take anything away from the South Africans’ great game, who got on top of us at the breakdown. They played a great game.”
The RFU were also forced to apologise to O’Keeffe in 2020 when then-head coach Eddie Jones accused the referee of bias after the victory over Wales.
Jones raged after Manu Tuilagi was sent off for a dangerous tackle on George North and suggested that England were playing against 16 men.
“I just find it bizarre. I usually don’t comment, but I don’t see how you can tackle a guy,” Jones said.
“You might as well just say you let him go, because how else are you supposed to tackle him? This bit about where your arms are – what a load of rubbish.”
He later added: “At the end we were 13 against 16 and that’s hard.
“When you have got a three-man advantage, you are going to do some damage. That’s what happened. We had a numerical disadvantage, so it was tough.”
When asked who Wales’ 16th man was, Jones replied: “You work that out.”
Peyper defends O’Keeffe
Meanwhile, SA Rugby’s national laws advisor Peyper has dispelled any suggestion that O’Keeffe is biased towards any team.
“If you have the privilege like me who lived with Ben in an environment for 10 or 12 years, you know he’s a medical doctor and he’s a very smart man,” the former match official said.
“He is so balanced, such a good individual but as a referee, and I know from experience, that if you listen to those outside voices and if you look at this match as anything different than trying to do the best for this match and deal with what’s in front of you that’s when it gets messy.
“He won’t think of any of those things, he’s too experienced, and Ben will just try do a good job and service this game. It’s a play-off for any referee, this game decides the championship and Ben has done British and Irish Lions games that have decided the outcome of the series, he’s done World Cup quarter-finals and us against Ireland at the World Cup.”
While Peyper says that his former colleague will block out the noise, he knows that the fans of the winning teams in those close encounters would have had the same criticisms had the result gone the other way.
“All those matches were within one or two points and Ben knows that, when it’s within one score, the team that loses, their fans are loaded and there would have been critics if South Africa lost against France with that one point – it would have just been a reverse so I think Ben is smart enough,” he added.
