It will always makes me laugh when Australians and New Zealanders cry foul at the ref when they feel they were robbed. They stamp and scream and feel absolutely gutted when nobody seems to care… welcome to our world boys, because the South Africans have been putting up with it for bloody years now.

Even before the refs get involved, South African teams are at a disadvantage just because of the touring legs of the Super 14 (and Tri-Nations). The Sharks spent six weeks on the road this year, the Lions five, the Waratahs – they had to endure just two in SA, same goes for the Brumbies and the Chiefs. A tough tour for the Aussies is three (the Force got the short straw this year), and we never hear the end of how tough that is for them.

Of course the Waratahs failed to win a game on the road in SA, ditto for the Brumbies, but bear in mind they only had to endure two. The Sharks' season pretty much came apart during their time in Australasia — and I don't need to remind anybody about the standard of refereeing in some of those games either — so perhaps we should consider a little perspective.

So excuse me if I find it hard to sympathise with Waratahs skipper Phil Waugh's claims that Lyndon Bray should have given his side a long-arm penalty in the last-minute of their 13-13 draw with the Stormers on the weekend.

Apparently Waugh was none too pleased and he had a good old rant after the game:

"Rocky runs, is tackled, puts the ball infield and their whole team is offside," Waugh said. "The ref puts his arm out for an advantage and gives us a free kick. All these things add up. They are critical plays in the game that change the competition." Waugh, of course, is right. These things do add up. Much like when his team-mate Daniel Vickerman threw, and connected, a cheeky right hook at Stormers lock Andries Bekker, which should have resulted in a yellow card for Vickerman and an advantage to the hosts, who at that stage of the game were on top.

Like Waugh says, these things are critical plays in the game that change the competition. There have been a number of incidents in every game of the Super 14 this season that teams can feel hard done by, but it annoys the hell out of me that we are all expected to listen when it happens to the Aussies and Kiwis (the Hurricanes howled bloody murder when they were cost victory against the Sharks), suddenly everyone needs to sit up and take notice — and the referees come under the microscope.

South Africans have been complaining about the standard of refereeing for years in the Super 14, and Steve Walsh has done the Sharks in on more than one occasion, none more so than in last year's final, but when Dick Muir complains? Well, he's just a whinger isn't he?

Waugh was apparently further enraged on Saturday evening when a South African journalist questioned the 'Tahs tactics at the breakdown and their alleged killing of the ball.

"I don't know if you were watching the same game. You obviously weren't. But every time we were on our feet, mate," Waugh raged.

Ah, of course you were, just like Richie McCaw, George Smith, David Croft and Daniel Braid are always on their feet when they somehow manage to steal the ball from the bottom of a ruck, while covered by at least 10 other bodies…

The Waratahs were reportedly considering lodging a formal complaint. You're kidding me, right? You just have to be kidding me.