A year of rugby refereeing controversies probably leaves most lost for words. Referees in rugby should not be held solely accountable, rugby is one of the hardest professional sports in the world to officiate, probably the hardest.
Without a doubt, a few appointments by the IRB and SANZAR have certainly left a few people scratching their heads and asking why, namely some of the inconsistencies that has, admittedly, impacted Australia.
Robbie Deans has made it protocol to not comment on referees performance post-match. He did so on one exception, however, in the All Blacks match in Tokyo where Mark Lawrence’s refereeing was IRB standard, he just failed to go to the pocket.
But what the public have found out this year is that if the IRB referees boss is your countryman, you probably will be favoured. Stuart Dickinson faced the wrath of Paddy O’Brien after an ‘average’ performance in Milan. It definitely wasn’t the worst refereeing performance of the year, that is for sure, but it didn’t take the cake for being the best either.
Dickinson refereed the third British & Irish Lions Test match, where he probably had one of the best international performances of the year. Alas, Dickinson was dropped from refereeing the Six Nations. The cowardice by the IRB, and in particularly Paddy O’Brien, will stand in the way of Dickinson getting his justice.
Let’s look at Craig Joubert. His performance in the opening Tri-Nations Test was nothing short of embarrassing. His pre-mediation in his decisions against Al Baxter, his interesting interpretation of the non-productivity at the breakdown, and his inconsistent advantage calls.
No, Deans doesn’t publicly discuss the matters with the media after the Test Match, but Joubert didn’t get dropped – in fact, he was rewarded with the All Blacks versus Wales Test match, which he didn’t perform so well in again. But, once again, Paddy’s favouritism appeared to continue, and he was, seemingly, rewarded once again with a high profile Six-Nations match.
We’ll now come to Jonathan Kaplan. Kaplan had a more then ordinary game with his handling of the Australian-Irish match. Kaplan’s performance impacted the result – a result that should have been Australia’s. This performance was on the same weekend of Dickinson’s Milan blunders. It’s interesting how Paddy would come out and say certain things, or not say in this instance, where he appears to want referees to be more ‘accountable’ for their performances.
The most interesting bit is that Bryce Lawrence, after making his own mind up that an eye gouge is worthy of just a yellow card, gets a high profile Six-Nations appointment.
Let’s sit back and reflect an inconsistent year officiating-wise. Hopefully it won’t be continuing in 2010.
ohtani's jacket
Guest
The Wallabies haven't outclassed the All Blacks since the Sydney Test in 2008, and even then it was a case of the All Blacks slipping up much like they did in Melbourne in 2007. You've just come off back-to-back hidings from the All Blacks and are further away from beating them over a three or four Test series than you were in 2008. Unfortunately, the players think the way you do, which is why they always give away stupid penalties. Pure frustration. The All Blacks copped the same from South African refs from '98-02. Deal with it.
Ai Rui Sheng
Guest
chief Your comments are ill founded and emotionally immature. (Play the ball and not the man) Kaplan is not a always a wonderful referee. When the Kiwis arrested half the Mossad, he penalised the All Blacks off the park. Hardly neutral. Paddy O'Brien sent a Fijian off, instead of a Frenchman, and the French went on to win and then beat the All Blacks. Possible cost of RWC? Paddy appointed an inexperienced and obviously partial referee in Cardiff and the French won. That the All Blacks had beaten everyone of note in the preceding months, it is possible to infer that he cost them another RWC.
Wavell Wakefield
Guest
'he should have been more acquainted with the ELV’s at the time – and into the future' What does this mean? 'he should be able to ref the test taking the relevant culture in mind' What does this mean?
MM
Guest
Damo - I have been watching the comments to the article for a while now. 1] If the article held no bias - other countries would have been mentioned - but they were not in the context of your of your replies, neither the article and subsequent replies. 2] Yes, the Australians do go on and on... when in fact the rugby teams self, have done their bit and moved on with a great percentage of discipline. Justifying never was a stamped and approved system... Thus I tend to agree and support what Jerry is saying - his contributions are indeed very fair.
Jerry
Guest
It's not like it's been a regular occurance. There's been one time he spoke out about refereeing decisions and it was regarding a controversial match 5 days after the IRB announced it was going to be concentrating on cleaning up the very area that the controversy was surrounding.
Jerry
Guest
It wasn't a spear cause he dropped him rather than driving him down and also cause Smit landed on his back/arse rather than head/neck. It was a dangerous reckless tackle and deserved a yellow card.
MM
Guest
Hey Jerry.... Mate - in fairness if that wasn't a spearhead tackle - then I'd love to see the genuine thing.... Be it to my detriment, I try to look at the fair side - and so many can't be wrong - or shouldn't be. Could you or somebody please enlighten me as to how John Smit's fall had any impact on the game - and whether the unforeseen landing was in any way erroneous??
MM
Guest
Chief - I agree with you. The ref should firstly be far removed from the players and the game - i.e. from as "neutral" a country as possible - and if it's a northern hemisphere ref - he should have been more acquainted with the ELV's at the time - and into the future - he should be able to ref the test taking the relevant culture in mind - not merely blowing that "thingy" called a whistle to such an extent where the game or test has 20 minutes odd outage of their game time. We've seen it how many times???
chief
Roar Rookie
He has cost the AB's two RWC's? You're off your head. You are completely deranged, and really need to fix up your arguments mate. They are all flawed, and they are all disgraceful. First Bledislo- Joubert unfairly penalises Australia at the ruck and breakdown. Not to mention the scrum. Australia clearly outclasses the All Blacks. Another Bledisloe match- Kaplan does a decent job at handling it despite his reluctance to sin bin both teams. Australia not neccessarily outclassed, just were not the full team. That is not a full 40 minute match. Ai your comment is stupid, and utterly ridiculous. No one is getting apologies from Paddy O'Brien but NZ. Even though they won that match. Your a bit of a genius aren't you. Gain a better understanding of the game skip.
Ai Rui Sheng
Guest
So the Wannabe's have lost so many games, (some say closely), this year because the refereeing is so bad. Could it be that poor refeeing has kept the Dingoes in games where they were clearly outcklassed, e.g. four Bloody Slow Cup matches??? Paddy favours his own country? He used to sing Advance Oz Fair E when he refereed. He has probably cost the AB's two RWC's so he needs a bit of balance I suppose.
hammer
Guest
Barnes may well have improved - he should do over time, all refs should continue to improve (massive emphasis on should) - that's not the issue with most kiwis - the issue was that at time he was no way experienced enough or ready enough to control a W/cup quarter final - that was an IRB problem and one O'Brien should have owned up to - basically he f@#ked up a quarter final of the IRB's showcase tournament .... best reffing display of '09 - I'd plum for Rolland in the NZ v France game - I don't think Barnes is anywhere near that level yet ... a level Dickinson could only dream of achieving
Jerry
Guest
He landed on his bum - he didn't see the 'spear' cause there wasn't one. But it was pretty obvious that Thorn was reckless in how he dropped Smit, even if he didn't drive down. But seriously - I'm baffled how you can argue that Dickenson missed any part of that incident.
chief
Roar Rookie
The 'outcome' in this instance was how he landed, maybe he should have yellow carded for what he saw, as an off the ball tackle. But he thought it could come across of too harsh, as he didn't see it as a spear tackle. It is pretty easy to miss the spear element of a tackle you know.
Jerry
Guest
What does that even mean? "He didn't see the outcome?" Why not? He was looking right at the whole thing. Start. Middle. End. All right in front of him. All in his line of sight. He doesn't look away at any moment. And quite frankly, the outcome is the most innocuous part of the whole thing anyway - Smit doesn't actually land that dangerously.
chief
Roar Rookie
Once again Jerry he didn't see the outcome of the tackle. Believe me, Stu Dickinson is probably the number 1 referee in the world who will make use of his cards whenever he deems appropriate. AllBlackfan- I have to agree, referees should be appointed on merit, but their nationality could still play a significant part ie; Australia verse New Zealand you wouldn'w want Bryce Lawrence refereeing. But you would want Barnes or Kaplan doing so.
Jerry
Guest
Barnes is pretty good (1/4 final aside, obviously) though he seems to really struggle to communicate with players. As for the Dickenson incident, I dunno what you think you're seeing. The whole thing was right in front of his face - there was no reason why he would have missed any of it. He bottled the decision then tried to hide behind not seeing it. If he didn't see that then there's something wrong with his eyes cause he was looking right at it.
chief
Roar Rookie
Jerry he saw the tackle, but he didn't see the landing point of the tackle. I am not denying that he saw that, I personally think New Zealander's need to really get over Wayne Barnes, and get used to seeing him for at least another 10 years. It wouldn't surprise me if Wayne Barnes gets a senior gig in refereeing administration once he's finished as well. Wayne Barnes actually truly knows his scrum laws, and the ruck is an actual competition when he's refereeing. If you infringe under Barnes players will know they will not get away with it. Time to face it, Wayne Barnes is the best referee in the world at the moment, and either he, Steve Walsh (if bought back to IRB panel) , Jonathan Kaplan or Alain Rolland will all recieve Semi-Finals, 3rd and 4th play offs and the final. It's something you'll have to get used to, because a lot of people will agree that he's the best referee in the world.
Jerry
Guest
That's a load of crap, he saw the whole thing. Watch the replay http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GZchPz1xQII , it happens 2 metres in front of his face and he's looking straight at it the entire time.
allblackfan
Guest
The problem we're seeing here is not that the refs are missing a lot of minor misdemeanours (which we can pick up at home thanks to slow mo replays). The issue is that match officials (including refs) are missing major transgressions, or are being inconsistent with how they treat them. Consider the recent Irish-Wallabies test: how does Palu get a yellow card for that tackle yet the Irish covering defence on Rocky Elsom as he scored gets away with a blatant shoulder charge? Or that NZ-SA Test match which Dickinson controlled: Thorn gets banned for one game yet Bakkies Botha gets away with illegal thuggery on the field (I remember counting at least four incidents) which goes unnoticed by all officials. Granted, the weather was atrocious but at least one oof these incidents was breathtakingly blatant (a forehand smash to Nonu's face 5m away from the breakdown). As for Barnes ... don't get me started. It's time for refs to be appointed on merit (a la NRL) ... you don't perform, you get dropped to a lower level. And vice versia.
chief
Roar Rookie
Steve Walsh admittedly bought it on himself. But he was still a damn good referee. And if it is true that Lyndon Bray is keeping one of the best officials out of the game, then he seriously needs to get over it and realise that the current bunch of officials are lacking Steve Walsh's feel of the game. Steve Walsh had his chances, and he blew them. The NZRU maybe was right to sack him, but look at all the other players out their who have been sacked, they have been given more chances, and it certainly isn't stopping them from moving forward which Walsh is trying to do. Allblackfan- I believe Walsh will not be able to referee NZ games but will still be able to referee Australian games. How a referee controls the game is how the game will be played. Dickinson indeed cannot make a game spectacular, but he can ensure that it is played with very much attacking flair. It used to be Dickinson whistling a lot but he has made drastic improvements to his performances of recent times. As for Dickinson not carding Thorn, he didn't see the 'spear' result, he saw the lift after being provoked and then the tackle. It was an unusual style of tackle not the traditional 'lift, twist, dump' or the 'lift, twist, drive.'