The Springboks new National Laws Advisor Jaco Peyper has conceded that walking away from the game was not as simple as hanging up his whistle.
At the conclusion of the 2023 Rugby World Cup in France, the Bloemfonteiner retired from international refereeing, but not long after he was named in the new Springbok coaching setup.
Peyper said not long after it was decided that he is done with officiating he has to explain to his wife, Zenobia, that he will remain involved in the game, but in a different capacity.
“A few months ago, I met with my wife and we agreed that we’re done with rugby, and two weeks later we had to go to the same restaurant and over another bottle of wine and I explained to her I’m back into rugby,” said Peyper.
“So it’s been quite a turnaround, but I mean, I guess when rugby in your blood it’s hard to stay away.”
The 44-year-old added that his job is more than to make sure they understand and play within the laws, while he is not there to judge the performances of his past colleagues.
“Day-to-day for me, is still a developing science. First brief is something we started last year and after the World Cup campaign I spent a bit of time with the team and the coaching staff asked me what can they fix and I said we need to build a respect piece around refereeing in this country. Not just for this team but also around refereeing in this country.
“We need more referees and we need people to serve the game, so we have to create a different environment, so that’s the first part of the brief, to create that environment in the team.
“Then the second part is these fellas have got to coach within the key areas accurately. My job is not to judge a referee performance, my job is to make sure that these fellas coach within the key focus, and then those fellas then play and execute in those areas.
“Obviously after games there will be alignment, whether we should adjust after a game, or whether the referees will adjust, so that’s the main day-to-day.
“Yes, I do have to referee a bit of training, and last week I also had to play a little bit. We were short numbers and I quickly found out I’m not going to play again.”
The Springboks and Ireland will battle it out at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday in the first Test and kick-off for this game is at 17:00.
Morgan Piek
