World Rugby have announced that Television Match Officials at the Rugby World Cup will be assisted by the Hawkeye system, which has been used in a variety of different sports in a variety of ways for a number of years.
The system works through simultaneously recording all broadcast angles of the game in real time and relaying them immediately to the TMO as well as coaches and medical staff.
The sport has never been shy when it comes to adopting technology and has frequently been just ahead of the tipping point in a way that football, for instance, has never dared to be. As early as the late nineties, touch judges could report acts of foul play to the referee’s earpiece, whilst the referees instructions, conversations and conversations with players could be heard at home to viewers watching on television.
Taking much inspiration from Rugby League, it was at the turn of the millennium that an element of video assistance was introduced into the Union code. Initially, matches where a TMO was present were limited to a handful of international games and televised games. Their use was limited solely to whether or not a try was scored, and only as to whether the ball was grounded or not.
This usage evolved into all top level games that were televised in most unions, and the act of scoring a try was extended to looking at whether a player was in touch or had committed any other offence in addition to whether the ball had been grounded correctly.
Following extended trials in the Aviva Premiership in England and the Currie Cup in South Africa, the use of the TMO really came into its own in 2013. The TMO can be asked to adjudicate on a wide range of matters, but will primarily be used for acts of foul play or the scoring of a try. The introduction of TMO referral for foul play was a significant one, since this appears on face value to be playing a key part in cleaning up elements of the game. There is little place for ambiguity now; if a suggestion of foul play is spotted by an official it will be investigated on the pitch and if it is shown that foul play has occurred, the player will be penalised.
The system has made the unenviable task of refereeing top level rugby matches easier and has reduced the number of wrong decisions made, as well as ensuring that acts of foul play are more likely to be fairly punished on the field. It is not, though, a perfect system. It relies on the need for a review being spotted at all, whether for scoring a try or for foul play. It also relies upon the incident being caught on camera and whether the camera angle has picked up the angle to give a definitive answer with the necessary clarity. A further frustration for the spectator is the slow nature of the decision making, with the need for the game to be stopped, replays to be analysed and all angles looked at several times before a decision is made in many cases.
Ultimately, the TMO system exists to improve the accuracy of decisions. On Saturday evening, Hawkeye was trialled for the first time in England’s warm up game against France and will subsequently be used in the Rugby World Cup. It might strike onlookers as a little odd for the system to be introduced so late in the day before the World Cup, but this should not be seen as a replacement system, more an improvement to the TMO’s arsenal available to them. Key features of the Hawkeye system are as follows:
Simultaneous split-screen replays
These have been billed as features that could have given a definitive answer to whether Mark Cueto actually did score a legitimate try in the final of the 2007 Rugby World Cup final. Potentially, a TMO would be able to watch one angle to see when the ball was grounded whilst looking at another to see where their foot was at that point. In the act of scoring a try, this could be a superb addition for the TMO.
Zoom functionality.
Within the opening minutes of the match between England and France, the TMO was asked to judge whether Sofiane Guitone had won his foot race with Johnny May and scored a try. This gave a first opportunity to see the zoom function in action, which showed that in fact May had rather impressively reached out and touched the ball down himself. This feature should help in those occasions where a mass of bodies in a ruck has made it difficult to see if a try has been scored. This may well have been useful in the Aviva Premiership Final of 2014, where the result of the match hinged on a TMO review in the last play of the game.
Immediate spotting of foul play and medical incidents.
In theory, with the number of live feeds at their disposal, it should be easier for a TMO to see, adjudicate and feed back to the referee quicker, which may prevent those drawn out instances of foul play being reviewed at the request of the referee and the TMO taking an eternity over it.
Importantly, as this same technology is available to medical staff, it should become easier to spot injuries and to intervene. George North’s plight in last year’s Six Nations would be the incident that springs to most people’s minds in understanding how this may be useful.
Of course the system still relies upon the referee using the facilities available to them and asking the correct question. There was the curious incident at Twickenham on Saturday when the referee was alerted to foul play for a potential trip but opted not to review it since the ball was already in touch. However, Calum Clark was later sin binned for a dangerous tackle following TMO intervention.
It has become commonplace for referees to call upon the video replays to make decisions themselves. There are some observers who have always seen this as a risky practice, since this involves the replays to be beamed to a full stadium with a crowd who may seek to influence a decision with their own indignation. There is a school of thought that suggests that potentially contentious decisions, perhaps even all pending decisions, should be left to the TMO rather than shown to everyone on the big screen. Otherwise, the TMO becomes an over-qualified video editor. Perhaps with the apparatus that Hawkeye provides, there might be less opportunity for contentious issues to be analysed by the stadium attendance.
No system is perfect, and not even this system is a replacement for an observant and knowledgeable referee. It is perhaps surprising that a new system is being introduced so soon before the Rugby World Cup, and perhaps trials should have been more widespread much earlier. As such, we’ve not seen how Hawkeye will work entirely, but we ought to be confident that it will improve the accuracy of decisions made by officials. What fans will hope for is that the process does not delay the game unduly.
“Main Photo:”
