Lawrence: I may not ref in SA again

New Zealand referee Bryce Lawrence. Photo / Bay of Plenty Times

New Zealand referee Bryce Lawrence says he won't referee in South Africa again if he receives personal threats following his performance in the controversial Rugby World Cup quarterfinal clash between Australia and South Africa.

Lawrence was slammed by South African players, fans and media for his refereeing of the breakdown following the Springboks 11-9 defeat to the Wallabies.

On his return to South Africa retiring Springboks skipper John Smit said "the one positive [of retirement] is that I won't ever have to be reffed by him again".

A Facebook campaign titled "Petition To Stop Bryce Lawrence Ever Reffing A Rugby Game Again" set up a platform for abuse to be directed at the New Zealander, while one South African radio station claimed to have prank called him in the middle of the night.

Lawrence told Radiosport's Tony Veitch this morning he is aware of the trouble that could arise if he had to referee a game in South Africa in next year's Super 15.

"I'm not totally concerned. I know a lot of other people like the New Zealand Rugby Union and SANZAR do have some serious concerns. In all honesty I'm not going to go over there if there's any personal threat or I have concerns about my safety because in the end it's a job, I know that, and also it's just a sport so I'm not going to put myself at risk."

He said other people are looking into the safety aspect and he's taking their advice.

"I refereed the final last year, I've refereed a lot of playoff games so that level is something I'm more than capable of refereeing. I'll referee South African teams in Super Rugby, it may be in Australia or New Zealand that I referee them and I'm sure the criticism will resurface every time I do referee them."

Lawrence says a day hasn't gone by that he hasn't thought about his performance in the match.

"My quarterfinal performance created a lot of negative reaction in South Africa, pretty hostile, very personal, very harsh. Also on the flipside of that I got a lot of really strong positive support from rugby people in New Zealand and around the world who probably know me a little bit more than the people in South Africa and were feeling for me during that time.

"It hasn't been the greatest four or six weeks of my life...in all honesty there isn't a day goes by even now that I don't think about what I could have done better and how it's affecting me and what it means for me going forward. It's still very fresh and probably pretty raw really."

Lawrence admitted he didn't have a great performance and said he trying to minimise making technical errors.

"I was disappointed with some aspects in my own performance that day after referring four really pretty strong games in pool play. I'm not blaming anyone for the quarterfinal referring display apart from myself. I didn't referee as well as I could.

"I was pretty relaxed going into that game, and Australia/South Africa I have refereed numerous times in the last few years at Tri-Nations level so the game didn't scare me or concern me. I just think I went away from what I'm best at. I'm best when I'm pretty decisive and reasonably technical and tactical - and I just went too much down the tactical side of things where I was really trying to minimise making technical errors.

"I got criticised heavily and some of that I accept because I know I could have done better."

In just one week following the quarterfinal more than 60,000 rugby fans joined the Facebook page. Some were hopeful their petition could convince the International Rugby Board to stage a rematch of the quarter-finals match.

"The Boks deserve a rematch!" said Kim-Leigh Kristen Davids. "WE DEMAND A REMATCH! We can beat da Aussies in our sleep!! (without Bryce Lawrence as the ref)."

Lawrence said he read some of the abuse aimed at him.

"I was possibly silly enough a couple of months before the World Cup to get convinced by some of our younger referees to join Facebook because it's a really good way to communicate with each of us. So some of those comments that were going onto that Facebook page were also coming onto my Facebook, I don't understand how but I don't really understand Facebook, so I was getting a lot of pretty nasty personal comments that were just appearing on my page. I'd be lying to say I wasn't aware of it but what I saw gave me a pretty clear view of what people were feeling."

Lawrence, who is rated as one of the best referees in the Southern Hemisphere after taking control of the Super 15 final this year, said being left out of the Six Nations refereeing panel is a consequence of his performance at the World Cup.

"Look there has been some pretty clear consequences from my quarterfinal display. I'm not going to be refereeing Six Nations next year, they can say that means I'm rested but in reality I accept that one of the consequences of my performance is that I'm not going to be doing Six Nations.

"That's disappointing from a personal level but also something that I probably support. Referees often get criticised and not held accountable - well I'm clearly being held accountable I'm not refereeing Six Nations."

Following the quarterfinal, South African referees manager Andre Watson said Lawrence would never control a Rugby World Cup again in light of his performance saying "he didn't referee the breakdown" and would be severely admonished by the IRB.