You might not agree with me, but I don't think it was all Lawrence's fault. Yes, he made some awful decisions (for both sides), and yes the Boks played their hearts out, but we knew going into the game that Bryce Lawrence had a reputation as a dubious ref, that he maybe didn't understand the rules as well as some of the other officials (and players), but in my opinion we should have adapted our game to his interpretation of the rules.
Had we done that before the match we might not be sitting in this situation. If we had studied his style of reffing, learnt what he allowed and did not allow, we could have certainly come out tops.
It's all about working with what you are given. We just let it work against us this time.
I have no doubt that with a different ref manning the game the result would have been a South African victory, and I also think it's high time Bryce Lawrence either learnt the rules of the game or was asked to stop reffing at a professional level.
None of that, however, will change the result of the game on Sunday. What it does do is provide us with the opportunity to be grown up about it and learn where we can adjust in the future, learn that all things, whether in love, war, or on the rugby pitch, aren't fair, and that we shouldn't ever be overconfident or underestimate our opponents.
I don't blame South Africans for feeling the way they do (and they're pretty upset, if you didn't know) and I must confess that I too have joined the petition to have Bryce Lawrence banned from reffing any more professional rugby matches, I just don't think that blaming the ref is the end of it - the Boks need to focus on becoming a little more flexible too.