Rugby Refs in the Spotlight

I can’t remember a time when rugby refs weren’t under the microscope, but now it seems that the advent of social media and the increasing interest in the game have raised the level of scrutiny – and not just in the immediate aftermath of the match either.

In the last few days there was still talk about the penalty in the last minute of the Super 15 final that gave the trophy to the Waratahs. The Crusaders claimed that Craig Joubert had apologized for getting the call against Richie McCaw wrong. Earlier in the week Steve Hansen said that Jaco Peyper (who was in charge of the first Bledisloe in Sydney) had admitted to making several blunders. http://www.rugby-talk.com/2014/08/referee-joubert-also-apologizes-to-the-crusaders/. We also had Jonathan Kaplan indicating on his blog that Peyper had blundered – nothing like solidarity eh Jonathan? – must be a great view up there on Pegasus! When I played – decent second class and strictly amateur – the ref was always right – even when he was a fat bastard who couldn’t keep up.

You can read all about this at www.rugbyoldbloke.com There was lots of muttering and swearing at decisions that went against you, but nobody argued (well not often anyway). When did you ever see a ref go “Oh, I see – you weren’t off side – that’s alright then, thanks for pointing out my stupidity – so it’s your scrum, yes?”  That’s right – never. And know what? They still don’t – despite it being a professional game now and with lots more at stake. Of course the real reason that there is an autopsy on the ref’s performance is so that coaches can put pressure on referees and gain an advantage for their team – whether it’s the same one or the guy who’ll be in charge of their next game.

Roman Poite actually showed in today’s second Bledisloe Cup game that he was largely immune to any pressure – he dished out yellow cards and gave a penalty try. One of the yellows was to Richie McCaw – unbelievably only the second of his some 130 international appearances! Bearing in mind Richie has always played right on the edge it seems that the one in the Super 15 final was probably well overdue – even if it was wrong. As far as I could see the only serious blunder today by Roman was missing a high tackle on Izzy Folau – not called either by the assistant ref (or whatever they call them these days) who was a lot closer to the actual incident. Pressure will continue on referees and it is likely that more powers will be given over to TMOs or other forms of technology as the stakes are raised in the game by the ever increasing financial flow into professional rugby. Viva la controversy as Roman would say!

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