History of the South Africa national rugby union team on to criticise New Zealand referee Bryce Lawrence for "one-sided" refereeing, claiming that Australian openside David Pocock was allowed to "reduce the breakdown to a farce". Lawrence was dropped from the nine-man elite panel in 2012. Following the World Cup exit, several stalwarts of the 2007 World Cup-winning side and the 2011 squad went on to announce retirements or moves abroad. This included captain John Smit, influential lock pairing Victor Matfield and Bakkies Botha, and scrum-half Fourie du Preez. History of the South Africa national rugby union team The History of the South Africa national rugby union team dates back
Gordon Connell (rugby union) Gordon Connell (rugby union) Gordon Colin Connell (born 3 October 1944) is a former international rugby union player. He was capped five times for Scotland as a scrum-half between 1968 and 1970. He scored one drop goal for Scotland. Connell was called up as a late replacement for the 1968 British Lions tour to South Africa. With both scrum halves (Gareth Edwards and Roger Young) injured he played in the last three games on tour including the 4th Test against . He played club rugby for Trinity Academicals and laterLondon Scottish. He was also the first player to come onto