Referees lack of accountability is killing the game
Harsh title, Gillian. Is that where we really are? I sure think so!
I have deliberately waited two days to see if the IRB would take action against their men in uniform for the atrocious decisions they took during the two very important Rugby Championship matches over the weekend. Yet, the only news that emerged was that Argentine Tomas Lavanini was sanctioned for cleaning out Richie McCaw at a ruck.
I was so astonished – to say the very least – witnessing the lack of whistle and action from ALL four officials during the All Blacks-Pumas match in Napier that this article could have been based on that alone, but my bemusement soon turned to outright horror when I saw what occurred during the Aussie-SA match afterwards.
This round was supposed to help us decide who were real contenders to the throne and who was contending to be consigned to the rubbish heap … But instead we are focusing on – again – the incompetence and inconsistency of the match officials. I haven’t written an article about the appalling decisions the refs have been making simply because I am not one of those people who believe that you can only blame the ref for losing a match, but after what happened both in Napier and Perth, even I can’t stay quiet anymore.
Let’s face it, even though Argentina have looked pretty good in the first 2 rounds of the RC, they were never going to beat the All Blacks in Napier; the All Blacks are rampant at present and Argentina still need to cut down on their error rate. But when their flanker Leo Senatore had his try disallowed because he was wrongly adjudged to have knocked the ball on, I couldn’t help but feel the complexion of the game would have – and should have – been different. Yes, the ABs would have still won, but Argentina could have picked up a bonus point, which could have – would have – changed how the log looked. Ask Jean de Villiers how important bonus points are in this competition!
Then again, the ABs were denied a try in the opening 3 minutes by an off the ball tackle by Horacio Agulla on Julian Savea. Maybe ref Pascal Gauzere thought he was squaring up the books when he disallowed that Senatore try? There were so many other glaring refereeing mistakes in that match that it begs the question as to why he has two assistant refs and a TV ref that are of no help to him when it matters? I mean, hello, have the four of you not seen that big screen you can refer to?
Surely, the refs for the Boks v Wallabies in Perth couldn’t get any worse … don’t tempt fate, Stevens! Someone on twitter aptly put it that Bryan Habana would definitely not forget his 100th test match after that! I wonder how George Clancy is feeling about it? Here was an alright looking tackle – from a wing, I might add – and he not only gets penalized in the 22, but gets a yellow card for his trouble! In this case, a touch judge did try to intervene as Clancy quickly reached for his pocket; even captain de Villiers was irate as he claimed to be a victim of a similar tackle moments before that had gone unpunished. Even after the replay and pleading from de Villiers, Clancy remained unbowed and banished Habana to the sidelines.
The match changed dramatically. For the first 20 minutes of that second half the Wallabies had been playing like a senior citizens team on a boat cruise through Fiji, but with the extra man and the ref seemingly only looking one way, Michael Hooper’s boys managed to snatch a victory that shouldn’t have been theirs.
It’s been nearly 48 hours since both matches took place and not a peep from the IRB, or head referee Jonathan Kaplan, over these monumental blunders. Remember, it was a month ago when Craig Joubert and Kaplan both conceded that it was wrong to penalise McCaw in the super rugby final in the last 3 minutes, which ultimately cost the Crusaders the entire championship. Crusaders coach Todd Blackadder received an apology. A man under pressure to keep his job and all he gets is a sorry?
The Boks, too, can feel really hard done by that they lost this match. How perfect would it have been for them to face their great rivals, New Zealand in Wellington, leading the RC and with everything to play for? A confident Bok team and a rampant All Blacks team always make for the best clashes. Instead, we are focusing on incompetent and inconsistent referees who are not only doing our game a massive disservice, but frustrating a rugby public who are becoming increasingly dissatisfied with their teams and players being compromised over and over.
The IRB need to step in now and stop the rot. Stop it before we really are served with a fatal blow.
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