Another White rant: we’re paying for sins of past Boks
South Africa’s coach also warned that Schalk Burger risked being whistled out of the game after the dynamic flanker collected his second yellow card in as many matches against Ireland.
“Sometimes I get the feeling we’re paying for the sins of our past,” said White ahead of the Twickenham showdown with England in five days.
“For five minutes of the game we were camped on the Irish tryline and they were slowing the ball down and standing offside. Not once were they told that the next player to infringe would be penalised.
“However, every time they got into our 22 and we did exactly the same thing as them, it resulted in a lecture from the referee.”
The biggest talking point arising from the clash with Ireland arrived in the 22nd minute when referee Paul Honiss awarded Ronan O’Gara a try which left the Springbok camp fuming.
“When you look at it unemotionally it still looks as bad as it did when you were emotional on Saturday,” White said.
He added that Honiss had been correct in everything he’d done up until the moment he restarted play.
“He said to the Irish No 10 (O’Gara) ‘time on’, which is 100% correct, but he forget to tell the Springboks he said ‘time on’ because at that point they were still talking to each other and when we looked again they had scored.
“We had a bad image and our discipline wasn’t great. Now we have a captain who has been told to talk to his players and he turns around and all of a sudden there’s a try. I’m not quite sure what you want us to do next.
“I find it quite ironic that people say it was the ‘naivety of a young captain’ (Smit is 26) and I take offence at that.
“Had Martin Johnson been standing there then there’s no way that ref would have allowed that play to go on. At what point does it become a mistake from other people?
“I saw Paul Honiss after the press conference and he tried to explain to me what had happened and I said it’s irrelevant. I’m not taking him on but it wasn’t going to change the result.”
White was equally concerned about the treatment of Burger, whom he insisted was being unfairly singled out.
“I’ve got to say that I feel as if someone is starting to put the nail into Schalk. Early on in the game he made a tackle and was rolling away and the ball was coming out on the Irish side and he was penalised for not rolling away when he was actually on the other side of a ruck.
“I’m starting to get the feeling he’s not allowed to do things that other players are getting away with because of the fact that someone has said he has a huge impact on the game.
“His work rate is much bigger and that’s why he’s getting seen more often. The guy’s a little bit confused. When you show him the video footage and he says ‘why are they saying I’m doing it wrong?’ and he’s not doing anything wrong, and when he shows you another clip five minutes later when there’s another player in an Irish jersey doing exactly the same thing, what do you tell him?
“All we are doing is dampening something that’s really great in the game. You are talking about a 21-year-old openside flanker who has turned rugby upside down in one year and all of a sudden that’s seen as a negative. I know for a fact coaches are trying to practise skills that Schalk does instinctively anyway by bouncing up and getting straight to his feet and competing for the ball.”
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