LATE CALL FOR CHANGES WELL WIDE OF THE MARK

David Matthews is amazed by some of the calls made by our

 ‘expert’ rugby writers

“What the game is crying out for is for top referees in the world to do a U-turn. It means them telling Joel Jutge, the World Cup/IRB’s match official manager, and the administrators in World Rugby’s so-called Services department, that enough mistakes have been made and that the remedy has to start now.” It took only one edition of The Rugby Paper in 2015 for Nick Cain to announce that high on his wish list for the New Year was that the World Cup Final must not be decided by the whistle of the referee or the “convoluted” ruling of a TMO.

Wayne Barnes, regularly applauded in these columns, is then brought into it with “It needs a Wayne Barnes to say that it is time to give the game back to the players, and to make referees an adjunct to the match action rather assuming the role of an all-important central figure on the pitch.” Barnes’ qualification for this revolutionary role is, according to the writer, based on his ability to upset New Zealand in the 2007 World Cup Final when, by refusing to “give them a leeway that was not enjoyed by their opponents,” his decision became “as courageous as it was controversial.”

Then comes the list of grumbles with which we are all too familiar: the collapsed scrum, the crooked put in, the early push at the scrum, continuous resets – all of which can, he tells us, be easily avoided by “applying the simple tried and tested blueprint enshrined in the law book.” And then we all wake up. Next comes the lineout: hookers shuffling sideways to throw straight down their own line, illegal mauls following the lineout, obstructions. Then some miscellaneous complaints, beginning with the breakdown: I am surprised he couldn’t manage a few pages on this one, but he settles for players going off their feet to challenge for the ball; so no big problem there! And for good measure, offside from chasers following kicks, and defenders creeping a couple of feet ahead of the demarcation line.

Elsewhere in the same edition of The Rugby Paper Colin Boag calls for the elimination of the choke tackle by changing the law; he later insists that referees, in all facets of play, should be quicker to go to their pocket for the yellow card, relying far less on warnings or ‘coaching’ and sticking to officiating according to the Law Book. Put all that lot together and the inevitable question would be “Is there any part of the game that is being properly refereed?” Or is that we are pretending a very complex sport is not really that complicated at all? It is definitely the latter.

The mystery of the Laws prevails at the lower levels of rugby but the frustrations of the elite game (anything you can watch on television!) are there regularly and any hope of rectifying that lot before the World Cup might be a touch optimistic. Why not revert to the age-old advice given by two iconic, international referees from Rugby League and Rugby Union, Bill Thompson and Clive Norling - “commonsense?” It served them well. Nick Cain concludes his piece, “We need a clear, coherent and transparent plan to bring about a refereeing revolution.” I can’t see that happening in eight months.

David Matthews (15 Feb 2015)