Tappe Henning handed a World Cup red card

Tappe Henning's omission from the panel of World Cup referees is hardly surprising, according to a local insider.

The high ranking official who desperately wanted to stay anonymous, said there had been several incidents in matches in which Henning officiated that counted against him.

"I don't want to say too much on the subject because the last thing I want to do is to kick a guy when he's down."

Henning's name did not appear on the provisional 26-man World Cup list which the International Rugby Board (IRB) announced last week and many observers wondered why Andy Turner got the nod ahead of him.

"Look, there are a number of issues at stake here. It wasn't as if Tappe had one bad game, but there were a couple of matches in which there was foul play and action had to be taken later," the official said.

"There was a match in which Butch James made a dangerous tackle and no action was taken on the field and there was the match in which Albert van den Berg and Jaco Coetzee had an incident.

"There was another which involved AJ Venter while playing for the Sharks, as well as a Test between England and Ireland in which Tappe was the linesman where he failed to point out foul play by Danny Grewcock. He simply didn't flag the incident," the official said.

Henning who is in Australia on Super 12 duty was not available for comment.

The insider added that the selection process for World Cup appointments was exhaustive.

"All referee's assessments are sent to the South African Rugby Football Union (Sarfu) and they forward them to the IRB. Assessments done by countrymen of the referee are not considered for World Cup appointments for obvious reasons," he said.

"The six-member IRB selection committee under the chairmanship of Steve Griffiths then makes the relevant appointments. We have no say in that."

Although the list announced last week was of a provisional nature, Henning is unlikely to feature in the final mix.

"I seriously doubt if there will be another opportunity for Tappe to get in. The problem is that he won't have games in which to blow himself into contention. The final cut is made on August 17 and Tappe wouldn't have had the opportunity to get in.

"All the referees on that 26-man list will get Test matches in which to prove themselves," the insider explained.

The four South African names on the list are Andre Watson, Jonathan Kaplan, Mark Lawrence and Turner but of greater interest to locals will be the inclusion of Stuart Dickenson.

The Australian official has become the object of vitriolic criticism for his perceived heavy-handedness when dealing with South African teams.

Ireland's Dave McHugh who was wrestled to the ground by a deranged fan in Durban last year also cracked the nod.

South Africa, New Zealand, Australia and Ireland each have four names on the list.

Joel Dume of France and Iain Ramage of Scotland were promoted to the top panel.