It’s high time SANZAR used its considerable clout to take over Rugby Championship referee appointments from the toothless IRB.
The rubbish dished up by northern hemisphere refs so far has been a blight on the game. The players, fans, and sponsors deserve better.
It stands to reason southern hemisphere refs are better-equipped for internationals after controlling Super Rugby, the toughest provincial rugby tournament in the world, featuring the three top-ranked countries in world rugby.
What continues to amaze is the general apathy by rugby fans to accept such rubbish as part of the scene.
Bollocks.
The most important person on the rugby paddock is the referee, who can make or break a game. But until those northern hemisphere refs accept they should be the 31st on the field, and not self-appointed No 1, there will always be this unacceptable clash.
Of the 12 Rugby Championship games, northern hemisphere refs have been, or will be, in charge of eight.
Farcical. A clear case of jobs for the boys.
Irishman Alain Rolland tops the list with three. He has already controlled the Wallabies-All Blacks tournament opener, and still has the Boks-Pumas, and Boks-All Blacks games to go.
So far, his rating is 4/10 max.
Welshman Nigel Owens has already had his two with the Wallabies against the All Blacks and Boks. Rating 3/10.
Frenchman Romain Poite controlled the All Blacks-Pumas game. Rating 3/10.
All three have suffered from the same shortcomings – inconsistency over advantage, scrummaging, and missing glaring offsides and knock ons.
And they lose any respect by constantly barking at the players like over zealous school-teachers, and persistent whistle-blowing.
The best referee so far by the length of the straight has been Steve Walsh, Kiwi-born-and-bred who moved across the ditch in 2009, and now represents the ARU.
Walsh has controlled his two, both between the Boks and Pumas, home and away.
He stands no nonsense, he’s strong in his rulings, and more importantly, he’s consistent. Rating 8/10.
In my book he’s taken over as the world’s best from South African Craig Joubert who will make his one and only Rugby Championship appearance with the Pumas-Wallaby game in Rosario.
That in itself is a disgraceful IRB decision. That the last Rugby World Cup final referee, in his own hemisphere, is granted just one game from 12 is also farcical, when inferior northern hemisphere refs like Rolland has three, and Owens two.
Still to come from the north, Englishman Wayne Barnes, the best of a bad bunch, and Irishman George Clancy, plus South African Jaco Peyper.
So the message is loud and clear for SANZAR to stand alone on this vital issue, and be in charge of their own domain.
Livers
Guest
In hindsight you are utterly wrong. http://www.rugbyworld.com/countries/wales-countries/scotland-vs-wales-analysis-six-big-decisions-from-glen-jackson-43148 Also, I hope you have changed your tune after watching Andrew Lees today at the scrum. Truth is, there are some very good refs; some from the SH and some from the NH. Mark
HardcorePrawn
Roar Guru
Interesting that you cite racism in your argument whilst using the terms 'whitey', 'Bleatingish' and 'Oilyish', before then making a disparaging comment about New Zealanders and making a marked reference to Alain Rolland's French ancestry. You're not really going to get your point across about racism by using racism yourself.
Ai Rui Sheng
Guest
It is not just the NH dominated IRB but the whitey UK dominated IRB. The IRB is a racially based Gerrymander.The UK, one country, gets 52 times the votes of non-white Samoa, Fiji and Tonga. The Bleatingish and Oilyish Isles get a third more votes than the only partly white SANZAR countries combined, or four times the votes of the partly white RSA, Oz and NZ. China, with more than 1,000,000 players, gets no vote, although nearer to white than some. The UK wants the UK to win the IRB RWC Lottery every four years. Hence referees at each drawing are mostly from the UK. QED Development of racially inferior or racially contaminated referees is not on the agenda. Similarly when UK provinces, like Scotland, tour the superior SH, teams are weakened so that the Scots can win and improve their IRB ranking. Scheduling beat the mostly but not all white Australians. The Pumas were denied their best selections by European clubs and top Pacific Island players were paid by the Bleatingish not to play against Scotland. Additionally, the Scots were blatantly aided by what the Samoan PM described as "Racist Decisions". The performance of the Barnes Owens combination should be investigated by the fraud squad. All those intelligent bettors who invested in the Pumas against the Wallabies were cheated out of their money.The only outcry I have witnessed on this was on NZ television. I guess NZ has more wise punters; if I may be excused for an apparent oxymoron. Now the best two teams in the world have to put up with a French speaking Celt who likes his own voice almost as much as Whiney Barnes does. Love the Shaghai Doctor
Parkle
Guest
Mania and Hansie, you obviously haven't watched any 7's. Andrew Lees was the World No1 7s ref in 2011 and has reffed two Super Rugby games in 2012. You will hear more of him and Smith - if they are given the opportunities. Reread what Lord said 'given a chance.....'
atlas
Guest
loosely on topic, international refs etc NH v SH - channel-hopping and noted there is a Japanese referee in the NZ ITM Cup match Counties Manakau v Otago that's being played now. He is Akihisa Aso, refereeing his third provincial match in NZ this month (after 2mths of club rugby), the previous two were in the lower Heartland Division, this CM v Otago in the Premier ITM Division. Found this on Wellington Referees site: "A visiting Japanese International referee, Akihisa Aso, will be arriving in New Zealand on the 18th of June and will be here for about 3 -4 months as part of his international referee development program. He will refereeing in our local competition & then move into the ITM Cup/Heartland Championship. We require places for him to board for at least 2-3 weeks (+) at a time." Good scheme! Maybe in 2013 we'll see him at a Super Rugby match.
Nick Cross
Guest
I don't think the referree was making handling mistakes or kicking aimlessly last weekend but I could have missed it.
stillmissit
Roar Guru
Potty that is no get out at all. In most of the games played here and particularly the NZ vAUS game with Nigel Owen, the total lack of advantage and blatant misses of forward passes and off-side combined with his lack of control around the ruck makes his stupid decisions at scrum time seem irrelevant...
stillmissit
Roar Guru
The only advantage I can see in having these pedant, no advantage, missed the forward pass, sensitive, nasty, blow hard twits from the NH in charge is that it lets the SH see what they have to deal with when they go on the end of year tours. They add nothing to the game and in the case of Argentina v NZ Steve Walsh or Craig Joubert could have made a good game great by advantage and game management. I agree with someone above who wrote the quality of SA and AUS rugby (even NZ in the first test) is more of a concern than these prats but if the rugby was better these NH plonkers would have killed good games.
Rowdy
Guest
That's always the safe option, Armchair!
Rowdy
Guest
The amount of whining about 'pedestrian NH refs' and 'boring NH rugby' and 'NH-dominated IRB' that comes from some ANZ posters, maybe you should split off. I suspect that the Boks would join the 6N and Aus and the ABs would just Bled to death.
Armchair Sportsfan
Guest
I blame robbie deans
Derm
Roar Guru
Out of curiosity, when do people think that NH refs started being used in the 3/4 Nations? And when do they think that SH refs started being used in the 6 Nations and November Internationals? We can all find examples of refs making howlers or being pedantic - which hemisphere you're from makes no difference.
Hansie
Guest
Nice!
Blackness
Guest
South good North bad, surely there has to be more to it than that? I'm sure if Stu Dickinson wasn't locked in a dungeon somewhere hand stitching All Black jerseys because penalised McCaw, he might be able to give us a bit of insight into how things really operate. I know, I know, I'm really clutching at straws here. It's not like the "Australian" whistle blowing representative is actually from NZ or anything like that. Oh hang on.....
Jutsie
Guest
Yes I remember your article now and I agree with most of it, I agree we shouldnt derail the main topic here. Just one point I think its not poor reffing by rolland, its poor reffing by all the blokes who have ignored tackles of similar impact previously.
Jiggles
Roar Guru
haha not a bad one.
Atawhai Drive
Guest
Now you mention it, Cattledog, I do have fond memories of 'long-range' refs such as Clive Norling and our own Dick Byres. The game always flowed when they had the whistle.
Jerry
Guest
Just a silly meme. http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/210-would-not-bang
Jiggles
Roar Guru
WNB?
Cattledog
Roar Guru
No Welsh spin at all, Jutsie. I saw it, and whilst it may have deserved a red card, unless ALL such tackles are red carded, then it was, in the context of the game, a poor referee decision. Consistency is all we ask. I've already written an article concerning cards and their uses so no need to re-hash it here.