Did Gatland's fury influence Jonker?

While the Springboks only have themselves to blame for their loss in the first test against the British and Irish Lions, some of the questionable calls in the game begged the question whether Warren Gatland’s pressure over the change of television match official had gotten to local referee Marius Jonker?

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To be clear, the Boks didn’t lose the game because of Jonker’s calls, and will have a week of soul searching where they will need to look at why their bomb squad had little impact, why they couldn’t field almost a single ball in the air in the second half and why they fell apart as the Lions got stronger in last 40 minutes?

But while Cheslin Kolbe’s knock denied Damian de Allende a try and was a good call, there are some questions to be asked about some of the other calls that went against the Springboks.

While many would be scratching their head about the amount of leeway referee Nic Berry allowed Alun Wyn Jones when discussing decisions but seemed to shun Siya Kolisi at times, the real question is why flanker Hamish Watson didn’t get a yellow card for a tip tackle on Willie le Roux.

Replays clearly show Watson lifting Le Roux through the 90, and he lands on his shoulder. While the landing probably mitigated it being a red, referees have consistently shown that a tip tackle through the 90 is worth a yellow card at the least. Yet Berry in consultation with Jonker decided there was nothing in it.

There wasn’t even a discussion, or at least one that could be seen in the visuals on television. Rather it seemed Berry asked Jonker to check the tackle and nothing came from it.

And that wasn’t the only call that seemed to be bottled by Jonker.

The decision on Willie le Roux’s try was strangely communicated and seriously flawed, and while the result probably wouldn’t have made a difference to the final result, the Boks will argue otherwise.

Initially it seemed there was more a question about a forward pass from De Allende to Lukhanyo Am. But once Jonker decided that was okay, it was up to the decision on whether Le Roux was in front of the ball when it was kicked ahead.

Jonker’s explanation was “It was very tight, but we believe, from the evidence I have, that 15 green was in front of the ball.”

This was despite replays showing that it wasn’t conclusive that Le Roux was ahead and if so, the on-field decision to award the try would have stood.

The disallowed try was eventually a massive talking point, even though Jonker allowed the try for Faf de Klerk and then disallowed one for Damian de Allende. Both the latter decisions were correct.

Gatland’s pressure and the furore created by the media outrage over Jonker after he failed to award a red card to De Klerk for a no arms challenge against Josh Navidi in the A team game resurfaced this week, and Gatland was fuming when he heard that Jonker was the TMO.

So did Gatland’s pressure and the need to be seen as impartial to the letter affect the decisions? Was Jonker influenced by Gatland and was that battle won before the game?

It won’t change the result, and Jacques Nienaber shrewdly didn’t go there in the post-match presser. Gatland did admit that some calls went their way, but didn’t elaborate any more than that.

He did deny that Berry had favoured his side.

Either way it will remain a talking point this week, and denials are expected all around.

But it will be hard to tell the average fan Gatland’s words in the week didn’t influence the key decisions.

And that will add to the spice for the second test.