Enraged South Africa rugby fans think they’re crank calling referee, but it’s the wrong guy

Bryce Lawrence’s phone in New Zealand has been ringing nonstop since Sunday, when several controversial calls occurred in defending champion South Africa’s 11-9 loss to Australian in the Rugby World Cup. Referee Bryce Lawrence has been the subject of ire by Springboks fans, who bombarded his phone with hate messages. The problem is, they got the wrong Bryce Lawrence. The guy they’ve been calling is not the referee.

He told the Herald he’s spoken to his telephone provider and the police, and believes his number has been removed from websites.

Since defending champion South Africa’s 11-9 loss to Australia last Sunday, more than 66,000 people have signed on to a Facebook petition “to stop Bryce Lawrence ever reffing a rugby game again.”

The Bryce Lawrence who was not a referee said he was taking all of the abuse in stride.

“Well, these things happen,” he said. “It’s one of these things in life.”

Really? It’s never happened to me.

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Enraged Springboks fans phone the wrong Bryce Lawrence [The Globe and Mail]