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Sonny Bill Williams praises 'special' Crusaders but fans upset at sly dig

Referee Ben O'Keefe during the Super Rugby Pacific Final match between Chiefs and Crusaders at FMG Stadium Waikato, on June 24, 2023, in Hamilton, New Zealand. (Photo by Phil Walter/Getty Images)

The Crusaders won their seventh Super Rugby title in a row at FMG Stadium over the in-form Chiefs but the home crowd was left feeling hard done by Ben O’Keeffe and the match officials.

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Boos rang out around the ground from the Waikato crowd during the post-match presentations, something even Chiefs head coach Clayton McMillan referred to in his post-match comments.

“I don’t want to bag the referee. The crowd did that at the end of the game, maybe that says something,” he told the media.

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Former All Black Sonny Bill Williams, who represented both the Crusader and Chiefs during his career, also weighed in with an unfiltered view of the game and took aim at the referee.

Williams, who was a Super Rugby champion with the Chiefs, praised two ‘best ever’ Crusaders in Sam Whitelock and Richie Mo’unga in their last game’s for the club.

But the 37-year-old signed off with a dig towards O’Keeffe, saying the most influential man on the field ‘was not a player’, a reference to the whistle blower.

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Williams’ public expression of criticism was not well received by fans and media who did not like to see a former All Black blame the man in the middle.

The Chiefs ended up on the wrong side of a 15-6 penalty count and received three yellows at separate times, playing 30 minutes of the game down to 14 men.

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Anton Lienert-Brown can consider himself somewhat lucky to only have recieved a yellow for his shot on Dallas McLeod as the tackle was cited following the game as being of the red card threshold.

But the biggest call that upset McMillan was a missed forward pass in the passage before Richie Mo’unga try which gave the visitors a 15-10 halftime lead.

“I honestly think the biggest call, momentum-swinger, was what I thought was a clear and obvious forward pass just before halftime,” he said.

“That gives us a scrum, we apply some pressure down that end of the field. [Instead], they score off the play after. That’s a big moment.”

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Comments

12 Comments
D
David 608 days ago

welll dont blame the referee mckenzie missded a kick at goal three players got sinbined sure the referee missed a forward pass but players missed tackles as well

A
Alec 609 days ago

SBW like everyone else in this forum is entitled to his/her opinion. I don't agree with his point of view but he is still entitled to say it....

S
Shane 610 days ago

The ref should have gone to specsavers. He missed a good game and ruined it.
Those who think we are just whining think about this. RWC final and All Blacks get treated badly by a ref, just like the Chiefs were. The All Blacks lose the final due to poor officiating.
Now you know why Chiefs fans are so upset.
There is no excuse for very poor officiating.

P
Pecos 610 days ago

SBW blaming the ref ignores the Chiefs real problem - LACK OF DISCIPLINE!!! Also, the Goodhue forward pass (how tf did A/R Gus miss it, he was right in line with it) was irrelevant. Why? Because immediately after, the Chiefs got the ball back & chose to kick it out. The Saders scored from the resulting line-out. All this talk about momentum shifts from McMillan is nonsense. Who knows what would've occurred at the scrum? Also, what about the momentum the Saders would've got had ALB been redcarded as he should've been? I mean, 20 mins with 14 could potentially have opened the floodgates for the Saders. We'll never know. ENOUGH OF THE CRYBABYING CHIEFS. YOU'RE EMBARASSING YOURSELVES.

C
Christ 610 days ago

right on SBW

A
Andrew 610 days ago

The worst most obvious fwd pass since the RWC 2007 debacle.

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