Rugby: Writing on wall for elite referees after Jonker axe

Leading South African referee Marius Jonker and England's Chris White have been axed from the group of the world's top match officials by the IRB.

Jonker, considered one of the top South African officials, has paid a heavy price for his woeful handling of the Scotland-England Six Nations match last month.

An IRB spokesman said: "Marius' performance in the Scotland game was not acceptable. He must go back to the lower tier and demonstrate he has the ability to come to grips with these problems."

Long-serving White has been dropped altogether from the IRB's referee panel. He is now considered too old for the job.

Jonker will be downgraded for six months to the 'A' list before IRB referee officials decide whether his subsequent performances have been radically improved. If so, he may be reinstated as one of the elite. If not, he will stay in the second tier of world referees.

His next international refereeing assignment will be this June, but not in the Southern Hemisphere tests against the leading European sides. Instead, he will referee in the Nations Cup, a tournament featuring some of the second-tier nations of world rugby such as Romania and Georgia.

It is a big blow for Jonker, but his performance at Edinburgh in the Six Nations game was widely criticised.

He failed to crack down on persistent infringements, failed to apply strictly the new interpretations of certain existing laws and was inconsistent in his decision-making.

Despite the fact that the game was a bore, ruined by the illegal tactics of both sides and consequently dominated by penalty kicks, he failed to get a grip and sort out the mess.

The game was considered the worst of the Six Nations tournament.

The IRB's thinking is revealed by this decision.

Axing Jonker from the top list sends a clear message to the rest of the world's major referees. Either they sort out players deliberately killing the ball, take charge at scrum time and apply ruthlessly the new edicts, backed up by the use of yellow cards if need be, or the IRB will find someone else to do those things.