Jonathan Kaplan has received a public apology from Brian Smith, the England attack coach who had attacked the South African referee over his handling of England's Six Nations defeat by Wales.
Smith had accused Kaplan of bias in the wake of England's 23-15 defeat at the Millennium Stadium on February 14, and claimed the official had been influenced by the Wales management.
The International Rugby Board (IRB) subsequently slammed the England coach for "unwarranted" comments and, on Friday, Smith revealed that he had contacted Kaplan personally to apologise for going pubic with his views.
"We have spoken since the Wales Test match, and I believe it was a positive conversation," said Smith.
"I apologised for expressing my views publicly, because it would have more productive to have raised those directly with him after the match. Jonathan is one of the best referees in the world, and I'm sure we'll continue to have a healthy working relationship."
Two days after the defeat in Cardiff, during which England had two players sin-binned, Smith had claimed that Kaplan had been "got at" by the Welsh.
He said: "His (Kaplan's) whole demeanour through that match, the way he addressed our team in the changing room beforehand - he had clearly had heaps of pressure put on by Wales.
"The way our team was addressed prior to the Wales game took me a little bit by surprise. It was clear to me that Wales had done their job in terms of getting stuck into the referee."
Smith's outburst reflected a belief among England's management and players that officials have a preconceived idea of them as an ill-disciplined side.
Copyright 2009 AFP Global Edition
