SANZAR has brought a misconduct complaint against Blues assistant coach Sir Graham Henry following his provocative criticism of Super Rugby match officials.
Former All Blacks coach Henry’s comments came in the wake of the Blues’ 23-3 loss to the Crusaders on Saturday.
The complaint has been referred to SANZAR duty judicial officer Jannie Lubbe, and will take place via teleconference on Sunday.
SANZAR alleges Henry’s comments amount to misconduct under its disciplinary rules and also breach its code of conduct.
Blues technical adviser Henry said New Zealand television match official Keith Brown got two crucial decisions wrong during the game at Christchurch.
“He is probably a blind TMO is he?” Henry said.
He described a yellow card awarded to Blues lock Cullum Retallick for deliberately knocking down a pass as “bulls**t”, and said it was “ludicrous” that Blues winger Frank Halai wasn’t awarded a penalty try in a separate incident.
Henry also said Crusaders prop Wyatt Crockett “got away with murder” at scrum time.
Terry Kidd
Guest
What about the TMO in the Cheetahs v Reds match? Definitely cost the Reds 12 points, possibly 14, with his 2 'no try' calls. That bloke was not just blind, his seeing eye dog was also blind, and he had no idea what a knock forward or forward pass was. If that bloke is a TMO for a Cheetahs finals game then put your money on the Cheetahs, and I am not a disgruntled Reds supporter.
BBA
Guest
Henry, was wrong to make the comments but he is doing right by his team, and is ramping up the pressure on the refs and TMO officials. Henry made the comments in a very calculated manner. The comments have to be scathing enough to become “newsworthy” and get reported. However by doing them in the manner that he did he can say that they were “tongue in cheek” if he gets some flak for them, or stand by them 100% if he sees he is getting traction. Certainly it’s more effective than just swearing at an Assistant Ref in public. While it will likely attract a fine for the Blues, and go on Henry’s record I doubt he will care, if it ramps up pressure on the TMO’s for the Blues big game this week, and puts the Crusader scrum under greater scrutiny by the refs in future games.
Billy Bob
Guest
Well if Sir Henry said it it must be true. I'd like to hear his thoughts on all the other contentious decisions the last couple of seasons. Have your day in court Graham and tell the ref admin what the rest of us 'blind Freddie's ' can see. Might serve to sort the mess out.
Billy Bob
Guest