Springbok captain punished for mocking referee during test

An internal Springboks disciplinary committee has reprimanded captain Bob Skinstad for showing dissent after being sent to the sinbin during last Saturday's drawn test against Australia in Perth.

Skinstad mockingly applauded New Zealand referee Steve Walsh on being shown a yellow card for a professional foul when he was penalised for killing the ball at a ruck.

Skinstad has been fined by a 10-man committee made up of players and tour management, who unanimously decided to take action against the No 8.

"The rest of the players supported the decision after it was internally decided to penalise him," coach Harry Viljoen said.

"The most convincing argument presented was that someone like John Eales [Wallabies captain] would not be found guilty of a similar action."

Viljoen would not say what the punishment was. The Springboks have fines for certain misdemeanours, ranging from being late to the team bus - for which two players were fined 500 rand in Perth - up to 10,000 rand.

Viljoen said that although a yellow card invariably meant a stiff fine for the offending player, "we as a panel felt that it was not necessary to take action for the offence which led to his being sent off".

The timing of Skinstad's spell on the touchline was crucial. Australia scored their only try in the 14-all draw through Nathan Grey while he was sidelined. He returned to the field with less than five minutes to play.

Viljoen said that Skinstad admitted his mistake and had apologised, including to Walsh, but even allowing for that, Viljoen said it had been decided some action had to be taken to prevent a recurrence of Skinstad's behaviour.