CrapRefs.com

Semi-Final #1 Canterbury v Hawkes Bay

Referee Jonathon White had a good game here. The game flowed, White went largely unnoticed and when required to act, he did so with a level head.

This was exemplified with the common sense decision around a potentially dangerous tackle that saw the tackled player’s legs being lifted up beyond 90 degrees.

Hawkes Bay were struggling to compete and would certainly have been devastated by the loss of their Tongan international prop, Sona Taumalolo had the letter of the law been adhered to and he been sin-binned.

White sought the feedback of his linesman Keith Brown (pictured below) who calmly and accurately recounted what happened – Taumalolo lifted the legs up in a potentially dangerous motion but then took care to put his opponent down without injury.

New Zealand referee, Keith Brown

White indicated he was going for a ‘penalty only’ and Brown concurred.

White, Brown and sideline assessor, Vinny Munroe have all come along in their refereeing as has Wellington’s Garrett Williamson.

Light at the end of the tunnel for New Zealand referees.

Jonathon White is training to be a surgeon and so we may not see him for much longer but hopefully the returning Glen Jackson has some promise with the whistle.

This wasn’t a pretty game. There were a lot of very basic ball-handling errors on a clear, dry evening in Tauranga.

The referee, Nathan Pearce, was from Australia and had a large panel of assessor-types watching him from the sideline.

He had some interesting interpretations at the breakdown, seemingly favouring the team in possession over that trying to steal it. There appeared to be moments when the defender was in correct position where other NPC referees would tend to award him the penalty for the tackled player not releasing the ball but Pearce tended to go the other way.

Bay of Plenty were penalised heavily in the exchanges and at one point had 2 men in the sin bin but the Australian was consistent even though he dished out a lot of penalties.

Also, Kudos to him for not sending off Bay of Plenty captain Colin Bourke for punching after a scuffle with Tasman lock Joe Wheeler.

Three in the bin

The only real downside was the disallowing of a significant try. Bay of Plenty would have gotten a bonus point from the game had the try been allowed and it certainly looked legitimate.

There have been numerous occasions where referees have gotten this wrong this season.

The NZRFU has conveniently decided to do away with video referees to save a buck (apparently $20,000 or so). Apparently that money isn’t going to a lineout coach for the All Blacks so where is it going that’s so important for the game of rugby in new Zealand?

They are dumping 4 teams from the NPC premier division at the end of the season. These tries could prove significant in terms of who finishes in the bottom four spots.

The NZRFU have an answer to that: ‘It won’t necessarily be the teams who place in the bottom four this season’.

Their get out of jail free card is that in being impartial (and making sure none of the major unions go down) they have a multi-pronged criteria and are applying it – retrospectively – over the last 4 years. Wouldn’t want Auckland, Waikato or Otago to miss out.

On the other side of the ‘no video referees’ decision is the potential earnings loss (and fans disappointment) for a team who would have otherwise earned a home semi-final (and/or) final due to mistakes or unsighted-ness  on the field – not really good enough in a slomo-replay, wireless broadband, real time everything, sky digital world!

The New Zealand NPC rugby competition has seen changes in the way matches are adjudicated. The main differences are:

1. Tackling
   Any tackle that somehow finds it way to the upper chest is deemed ‘high’
   Any tackle that involves lifting a player’s legs, no mater how high or whether there is no potential danger is deemed, ‘dangerous’
    
2. Tackled ball
   The tackler is able to continue to hold onto the ball in the post-tackle, ruck
   
   
3. TMO
   In a cost-saving exercise, there are no video referees at NPC matches.

This last one represents the most significant, especially this year.

In theory, this heralds a return to the amateur era, where referees made calls from what they could see, with some help from their linesmen.

However, the controlling body has declared that 4 teams will drop out of the NPC top flight at the end of this season.

The determining factor is not going to be performance alone but it will have a bearing. The issue here is that human error could see a crucial decisions go the wrong way and have a determining influence on a team’s fate.

While it didn’t affect the outcome, in the 3rd round, Wellington were awarded a try against the Bay of Plenty that was clearly not a try. Bay of Plenty are in the mix to be one of the 4 teams to be dropped.

People’s jobs are on the line here and the NZRFU choose this year to act all prudent.

Wellington had a try disallowed in their Ranfurly Shield match with Auckland last week. It was a clear try and the referee seemed to ask his linesmen the wrong question (‘Did you see it?’ rather than ‘Is there a reason why I can’t award it?’). The try as under the posts and so Wellington were denied 7 points in a match that was decided by just 3 points.

In the first 2 rounds I was happy with the decisions being made around the awarding of tries but in the close-up, slow-motion replay, satellite TV world we live in, the NZRFU should find other ways to tighten their belts.

TV commentators are talking as if referees have made it clear which laws were being focused o for this year’s New Zealand National Provincial Championship (NPC) but no-one told us – the paying public.

And it doesn’t seem like the players have been all that well versed with the high amount of penalties being awarded during matches.

If this was America, there would have been an effective marketing job prior to the kick off of the first game to ensure everybody knew how things were going to go.

Diagrams would have been drawn with appropriate animations to clearly illustrate the law, the current interpretation and then how it was going to be played for this competition – and why.

That way the fans would be more informed, more sympathetic and could even provide productive feedback.

But that’s not how it went in New Zealand’s premier rugby competition.

Rugby’s laws are complicated enough without introducing experimental variations for one competition and then reverting back to old laws for mid-year internationals.

Then later the same year, introducing new ways of interpreting laws around the ruck and mall.

These include:

Tackle Safety

• Any tackle that starts high (over shoulder, neck, head) is ruled ‘head high’ [and penalised] regardless of where the tackle ends up
• Any tackle that involves lifting a player to a point where the tackled player’s legs get to an angle where they are parallel to the ground is ruled ‘dangerous’ [and penalised]