All Blacks assistant accuses SuperSport director of skewing replays against New Zealand in series defeat

New Zealand assistant coach Neil Barnes has accused the South African host broadcaster SuperSport of showing match officials unsolicited replays that favoured the Springboks while denying the All Blacks the same treatment, following a 43-28 defeat in the fourth and final Test of the Greatest Rivalry Series in Baltimore.

Speaking to Jason Pine on Newstalk ZB after the match, Barnes stopped short of blaming the officiating alone but was pointed in his criticism of the broadcast setup. “You have to put up with the screens when the South Africans are running things that are showing things entirely different to what the referees asked for, and the referees see it and go back to it,” he said. “But you don’t get the same luxury when something is on the other side of the coin.”

South Africa led 17-14 at half-time and stretched their advantage to 29-21 with ten minutes remaining before a contentious tackle decision on Josh Moorby resulted in a try to Kurt-Lee Arendse, effectively ending the contest. A late Beauden Barrett try made the final scoreline 43-28, but Barnes felt the margin flattered the Springboks.

“There’s a couple of moments swinging with about 20 minutes to go, where two or three times in a row we come out on the wrong side of a close call,” he said, adding that the gap between the two sides remains narrow. “For anybody that understands the game, not very far at all.”

Despite his frustration, Barnes acknowledged South Africa’s quality and credited them with playing with greater freedom in the decider, knowing they had already secured the series. “They actually played with some freedom tonight because they were one up in the series, so they couldn’t lose it. And good on them, I thought it was a good game of rugby.”

He also pointed to improvement in New Zealand’s set-piece as a positive to take from the defeat. “I thought we made a big shift in our set piece tonight compared to what happened last week, so that was good.”

The series result — 3-1 to South Africa — will sting, but Barnes remained measured in his overall assessment. “Probably just not getting the rub of the green, or getting a lot of luck in close moments at the moment,” he said. “But the more I reflect, the more I know we’re seriously close to them.”