This is valid given the increase in Super Rugby tries being scored off forward passes, which Henry rates as “ridiculous”. And he included the “touchies” in his criticism.
Henry said: “You watch the game at the moment; the number of tries being scored from forward passes is ridiculous. I just wonder what the guys are doing on the sidelines. It’s diabolical. It doesn’t make any sense. They are all trying to do a decent job but they are making mistakes.”
This is timely, with the Rugby World Cup kick-off only 81 days away.
Henry qualified his complaint by begging the question, are the referees physically up to it, or are they fatigued?
The answer may well be an underlying problem.
This year’s Super Rugby has been played at a cracking pace, it’s been spectacular, with the vast majority of the teams’ players in their 20s.
But as the vast majority of referees are in their 40s, there’s no way in my opinion they can compete for pace over the full 80 minutes, no matter how many short-cuts they can muster.
Mark Lawrence is 46, Jonathan Kaplan 45, Stu Dickinson and Marius Jonker 43, Vinny Moore 42, Bryce Lawrence 41, and Keith Brown is 40.
The only top Super 15 refs under 40 are Steve Walsh and Chris Pollock (39) and Craig Joubert, who is 34.
It’s much the same story in the northern hemisphere.
Alan Lewis (Ireland) is 47, Alain Rolland (Ireland) and Dave Pearson (England) are 45, Christophe Bardos (France) 41, and Welshman Nigel Owen is 40. The sub-40s: Frenchman Romain Poite 36, Irishman Georg Clancy 34, and the youngest ref in world rugby, England’s Wayne Barnes is 32.
It doesn’t paint a positive picture.
As anyone who has competed in any sport knows only too well, once you’re tired your thinking isn’t as sharp, and your reaction time slows.
There’s no time for either as an elite rugby referee, the moment is lost. But that theory doesn’t exonerate the “touchies” for the mounting monumental blunders they are making.
By comparison their job is a walk in the park, with four extra eyes, and no pressure, to assist the referees.
So this is a very rare time to support the IRB, as the governing body is between a rock and a hard place.
If they look to far younger refs, who are fit and fast but inexperienced, they will no-doubt crumble under the pressure of take-no-prisoners international rugby.
Or they can stick to the current format, and hope for the best. But that’s Russian roulette.
So there’s a lot to be said for rugby league’s two refs on the paddock at the same time for the full 80 minutes.
Happy Hooker
Guest
Graham Henry always looks like that. It was once said of Alan Jones that he always looks like he has just bitten in to a quince, and Henry is the same.
Rugby Diehard
Guest
Couldn't agree more - I hate people complaining about ref decisions but I still believe they think they are way too important to the game but it would give the Kiwis twice as much to whinge about when beaten.
Big Rig
Guest
The problem in rugby union is the refs - if one of these little men in tight shorts is capable of single-handedly destroying the spectacle of the running game, why on earth would anyone seriously want two of the little f*&*wits bleeping their whistles around the paddock? Get rid of all refs I say, and leave it up to the men on the field to sort it out.
Dingo Bob
Guest
That is a good point WN. I remember listenign to my sports ears a couple of seasons ago when a referee basically rejected any call made by an "Assistant Referee" for an entire game. Even rejecting when they pointed out he was in the wrong place for a penalty. there is no point of the AR making a call if the refs aren't going to listen anyway.
CTPE
Guest
Sorry....I have heard central refs tell touchies to butt out of rulings.Most times, rulings even out,and certainly some refs allow advantages to suit the flow of the game.More eyes mean more stoppages.We cant afford more Kaplan type pedantic rulings influenced by "assistant referees"
IronAwe
Guest
You can't rule on forward passes from video as the angle of the cameras distorts the angle of the pass. There was a very interesting discussion about this a few years ago. Maybe four touchies and one ref? You'd have one touchie per 50 meteres either side of the field and the ref. That way the touchies would have less to run and would be able to keep up with the play a lot easier.
George
Guest
The Assistant Referees (TJ) should do their job properly. If so then no need for a further central ref. The IRB should empower the TJ's such that on issues of line out throw, offside & scrum collapse the central ref cannot ignore them. The IRB should instruct the central ref that he must listen to the assistant ref. Finally the Assistant Referees (TJ's) should be called Line Referees and have full powers.
The Bush
Roar Guru
Interesting Wally, I guess I've put the boot into Dickinson a little to early eh?
zhenry
Guest
Josh Rakic (of SMH Rugby Heaven) uses Graham Henry’s concern about different refereeing interpretations (between north and south) to score AU brownie points. He quotes ARU referees boss Andrew Cole as having no concerns about present refereeing: Unless I have been seeing ghosts, the media, all Super campaign, have been littered with reports of bad to appalling refereeing decisions (and that’s only the southern hemisphere). Rakic goes on to state that Henry should get a cold shower and a sedative to cure his 17-year-old schoolie paranoia. To finish off his personal attack there is a photo of Henry looking like he has just swallowed awful cough mixture. (But credit to DL for his very reasonable photo of Henry, on here). By the way the AU owned AU and NZ media generally present some very negative photos of Henry, whereas Deans is portrayed more as the Pope blessing the multitude, something the Christchurch populous would find absurd.
Tony the Sandgroper
Guest
We use substitutions to counter the physical pace of the game for players, why not bring on a fresh ref at the twenty minute mark of both halves. So we would always have a fresh ref. I think only one central whistle blower is required but give the old blokes a chance to recover their wits. The touchies are bludging. We have seen some blatant foul play in front of touch judges and even a couple of players going into touch that were seriously missed here in Perth. I agree with the expanded role of the TMO as well.
zhenry
Guest
Interesting possibilities you mention. When you think of it the video ref is in the best position to rule on most things (except scrums maybe). Bad to appalling ref reports have gone on the entire present super campaign. The final super table could be quite different. Rugby union is too complicated for one ref, can’t possibly see everything, especially at present pace of game. I would bite the bullet and give it a try: I would have the video ref as the main ref with back up from refs on field and perimeter.
AndyS
Guest
I would have no problem with two assistant refs on each side of the ground, each given only a half to monitor and tasked with adjudicating on forward passing, offside etc. But I would be dead against more than one ref on the field. At the moment we can't get consistency week-to-week, game-to-game, and sometimes even half-to-half. It would be profoundly rubbish if we couldn't even get consistency in law interpretation and application end-to-end on the field.
zhenry
Guest
The only boundaries being pushed are yours.
Shore Thing
Guest
Dont need any more than 3 current refs. Gotta have 2 or all 3 with equal refs with different areas of responsibility: Central ref - breakdowns, knock ons, lineouts 2nd / 3rd ref - wide and watching offsides/obstruction/men in front/forward passes Scrum - should be one ref on each side. Central ref would have less running. Eg would start kickoff at receiving 10 line / drop out at 10m line. Vid ref can rule on anything leading up to try (say 30 secs before) including infringements, into touch. Remember NBA has 3 refs, all who can blow the whistle, so I dont know how you can say only 1 ref can have the whistle. At the moment touch judges have some sort of "gentlemens agreement" to do nothing except report foul play.
Nathan
Guest
If the trouble has been fitness then perhaps the two refs will reduced the number of whistles called just because the ref has to stop play to catch his breath!
sixo_clock
Roar Guru
....dirty pants. So very cruel. But why administrators, they are chosen for the job because they think slowly and carefully. Better still make it an option to the punters. You rent a mobile phone like device every game which gives the option of sending electric messages to your favourites.
Wally James
Roar Guru
The bush All the refs have a communications system strapped to their torso. It makes them look paunchy when they are not. Cheers Wal
Rugby Diehard
Guest
Please please please no more refs. I have an alternative, perhaps we could have a tazer system whereby all the players are wired up to be remotely tazered if they infringe. They would only be rendered unconscious for a second or 2. The decision to tazer or not to tazer would be made by a panel of 7 administrators in the stand - if the majority hit the buzzer than tazered he'd get......................................
Wall-Nut
Guest
It doesn't work and League is a simple one diementional sport. They still can't get it right. We already have 3 refs, the linemen just need to get the balls to make calls. I've lost count at how many line out throws that go straight over the heads of the team that has maintained the ball. Sometimes even outside the lineout. Clear referee shyness. In a refs point of view, safer to not make a call than making a bad call. But all this can be solved if players just stop breaking the rules or the penalties are alot harsher. -- Comment left via The Roar's iPhone app. Download The Roar's iPhone App in the App Store here.
The Bush
Roar Guru
It's not just their age, some of them just look plain out of shape. I'm pretty sure Dickinson is carrying one of the msot impressive beer-guts around... Two (2) refs is great in theory for Rugby Union - one on each side of the breakdown and scrum would be the logical thought. The problem is that the refs blow their whistles too often in Union and therefore doubling up the number of refs would probably result in a doubling up of the whistle blowing and result in even more penalties and complications...