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Dickinson admits mistakes

Monday 07th July 2008

Disallowed: Dickinson though Kaino was off-side when scoring his second try

Under-fire Tri-Nations referee Stuart Dickinson has apologised to the All Black coaching staff for disallowing a Jerome Kaino try against South Africa and admitted he should have shown Brad Thorn a "yellow card."

The All Blacks' 19-8 win over the world champions at Westpac Stadium was marred by various controversies with Dickinson at the centre of complaints from both sides.

The Australian referee disallowed Kaino's second-half try for offside - saying that the All Blacks number eight was in front of fly-half Dan Carter when he put in a pin-point grubber through. Upon reviewing the television evidence, Dickinson conceded he had made a mistake

"The offside call was mine and it was wrong," Dickinson told Supersport.

"I have apologised to (assistant New Zealand coach) Steve Hansen.

"One has to be big enough to admit it when you have made a mistake."

Dickinson added that also in hindsight he should have shown Thorn a yellow card for his 'tackle' on Springboks captain John Smit in opening minutes of the encounter. Smit injured a groin muscle in the off-the-ball incident and has been ruled out of South Africa's remaining away Tri-Nations matches

The referee had stopped play for a high tackle on Springbok full-back Conrad Jantjes when Thorn up-ended the South African hooker.

Dickinson said he didn't see all of Thorn's actions, claiming he was looking to make sure he picked out the offender in the Jantjes tackle.

"The assistant referee's view was also obscured. He saw Smit go up and come down but he did not see him land," Dickinson said.

"I have now seen a (television) replay. I would have shown (Thorn) a yellow card had I seen everything."