Lawrence: I was hounded out

Referee Bryce Lawrence has lifted the lid on the criticism he endured after taking charge of Ireland’s Rugby World Cup win over Australia last year.

The New Zealand native announced his retirement from the sport this week citing severe “behind the scenes” pressure as a contributing factor in his decision.

Lawrence admitted the fallout from his display in South Africa’s defeat to the Wallabies in the tournament’s quarter-final was “absolutely the reason for my career change”.

But the 41-year-old believes that the controversy which followed his handling of Ireland’s historic victory may have impacted on his performance in the last-eight clash.

“I refereed Australia versus Ireland and Ireland had won but behind the scenes guys like (Australian chief executive) John O’Neill were kicking up a massive stink.

“I knew a bit about that and it was enough to affect me, and it probably made me freeze on the biggest stage,” he told the Bay of Plenty Times.

Lawrence suffered a nightmare performance in the Wellington clash as the defending world champions, South Africa, lost 11-9 despite enjoying almost 70% of possession.

The abuse on social media sites became so heated and personal, it was considered too great a risk for him to referee in South Africa again, and so ended his international career.

He recalled: “It got pretty bad. Not really threats on my family as such, there was a concern, but it was mainly aimed at me through social media. On Facebook they launched a ‘get rid of Bryce Lawrence’ site and it was pretty nasty. They were even from middle-aged women and it has carried on since then. It was disappointing to get them from local people in Tauranga, who I didn’t know. To my credit, I didn’t reply to anyone until one day I relented and replied to a guy from Papamoa, which I regret because he kept egging me on with more stuff. That was absolutely the reason for my career change. I got told at the end of the World Cup I would have a break from test rugby for the Six Nations and I could totally accept that as there has to be a consequence for poor performance. I was told I would be brought back in the middle of this year, as I was ranked in the top three or four referees in the world. But because of the political reaction from rugby unions like Australia and South Africa behind the scenes, they dropped me.”