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Auckland, New Zealand. Thousands of South Africans are still flooding an online petition to have a referee banned from rugby following his performance in Australia’s 11-9 quarterfinal win over the defending champion Springboks on Sunday.

The “Petition to stop Bryce Lawrence ever reffing a rugby game again” is making plenty of news in World Cup host New Zealand after more than 65,500 Facebook users had confirmed by Thursday morning that they liked the page.

Lawrence has been accused by Springboks fans of egregious oversights in his handling of the quarterfinal, particularly at the breakdown where flanker David Pocock provided a deluge of turnovers for the Wallabies.

New Zealand newspapers have picked up comments attributed to Andre Watson, a referee in two World Cup finals and a referee manager in South Africa, as saying that Lawrence will “be punished.”

British newspapers have reported Lawrence is considering quitting. He isn’t the only referee to come under attack at the World Cup, with Welshman Nigel Owens heavily criticized for his handling of Samoa’s pool stage loss to South Africa.

Pocock was phenomenal in the tackle area, particularly after Springboks fetcher Heinrich Brussow left the field injured, in an individual performance that proved to be the difference between the two teams.

But South African critics have said Lawrence was the difference, some describing the New Zealand referee as Australia’s 16th player.

But while Lawrence’s interpretations were undoubtedly liberal and created a free-for-all at the breakdown, he did apply it evenly to both teams.

The All Blacks face Australia in a World Cup semifinal on Sunday in which dominance at the breakdown is again expected to determine the winner. Pocock goes head-to-head with New Zealand captain Richie McCaw in a battle of the two best openside flankers in the game.

The International Rugby Board said it doesn’t comment on individual performances of referees. But that hasn’t stopped plenty of debate among fans and some oblique references from the remaining teams.

All Blacks assistant coach Steve Hansen said Lawrence would probably be “disappointed” with his performance in the quarterfinal and he expected South Africa’s Craig Joubert, who will referee Sunday’s semifinal, to control the breakdown more effectively.

“He’s human and he’ll make decisions based on what he sees or he thinks he’s seeing,” Hansen said. “It’s pretty clear what you’re allowed to do and not allowed to do, but you get variation every week.”

“I’d say Bryce is probably a bit disappointed with how he did it last week,” he said. “You’re not allowed to go off your feet and you’re not allowed to hang onto the ball after he says ‘ruck.’ You’ve got to let it go, so if they [referee like] that, great, we’ll all have a good game.”

South Africa had the clear majority of possession and territory, forcing the Australians to make three times as many tackles, but couldn’t cross for a try.

Not surprisingly, Wallabies assistant coach David Nucifora had no major issues with Lawrence.

“He did a fine job from where we were sitting,” Nucifora said on Thursday. “He was consistent for both teams.”

Associated Press