The man responsible for recklessly and childishly ending the Sprinkboks’ 2011 Rugby World Cup campaign shall never referee a test match again!

With great excitement, we can confirm that The South Africa, New Zealand and Australia Rugby (SANZAR) Head of Referees, Lyndon Bray, has today confirmed that New Zealand referee Bryce Lawrence’s Test career is over.

The International Rugby Board (IRB) removed Lawrence from its elite panel of referees in March for future Test matches, and this is the symbolic final nail in the coffin for Lawrence.

Hardly a South African rugby fan will remember the anger surrounding his performance in the World Cup quarter-final between South Africa and Australia in October 2011.

Goodbyes are hard..

Bray told Eyewitness News Sport exclusively:

From an IRB perspective he has not been selected in the test. There’s a decision that we as selectors in the IRB made back in March.

His time is over at that level.

At this stage he is clearly not on the team. His challenge would be, if it’s possible, to find his way back again.

And I think given the reality and what he’s gone through and the situation he’s in at the moment that would be a huge ask.

Bray said that while Lawrence, New Zealand’s referee of the year in 2011, is still involved in Super Rugby, his refusal to referee in South Africa means that him getting back into the Test fold is something we shouldn’t expect.

[Source: EWN]