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I’ve tried to find words to be highly critical of the refereeing of George Clancy in the Australia – England Test at Twickenham in a polite fashion but, dammit, let’s be brutally frank: Clancy, his assistant referees and the TMO had absolute shockers.
Between them they made small and big mistakes, and a couple of massive mistakes that led directly to England’s two tries. Unfortunately, too, virtually every mistake penalised the Wallabies.
With the score tied 13 – 13, for instance, Quade Cooper put up a bomb deep inside the England 22. Israel Folau (who played splendidly) raced through, jumped – and was penalised by the referee for taking out the catcher. Folau jogged back into position shaking his head in bewilderment.
There was no replay of the incident which seemed uncannily like a similar incident and decision made by Clancy in the England – New Zealand Test last year at Twickenham against Keiran Read who was, like Folau, bewildered by the decision.
Neither Clancy or his assistant referees spotted the invariable boring-in tactics of Mako Vunipola, even though there were many scrums right by the sideline.
The first six scrums of the Test ended with a short-arm or long-arm penalty to England. The astonishing thing about this is that the Wallaby scrum was rock-solid when England did scrum straight.
Up 13 – 6 the Wallabies won a penalty. Matt Toomua belted the ball to within 5m of the England try line. It was a long and potentially match-winning kick. The assistant referee had time to get into the field of play to watch Mike Brown, with his feet on the touchline catch the ball and set up a counter attack.
From this vantage point, and about 15m away, the assistant referee somehow did not see that Brown was in touch. How could the assistant referee make this massive mistake?
Then England surged over the halfway mark. A pass went palpably forward right under Clancy’s eyes. The attack swept on and Marland Yarde was bowled over in the Wallabies corner. From the lineout, Will Genia had his kick charged down. Chris Robshaw picked up the ball and forced his way across for a try, which was converted: 13 – 13.
This was a potentially 14-point turnaround, if the assistant referee had made the correct decision and awarded the 5m lineout near England’s try line to the Wallabies.
Go forward now to the second half. England are mounting a series of attacks inside the Wallabies 22 but are going nowhere. Owen Farrell is standing deep, perhaps in anticipation of a field goal attempt. He gets the ball on the run, looks to pass and then notices a huge gap where Stephen Moore is supposed to be defending.
Roll the tape. Dylan Hartley, a noted smart-arse offender, cyncially moves in front of Moore deliberately blocking his progress across to the hole that Farrell is running through. It’s a try but the Clancy goes to the TMO for confirmation.
Numerous reruns show that Hartley has moved to block or obstruct Moore in making the tackle. It is so obvious that the UK rugby site PlanetRugby suggests that this is its ‘Villain of the Match’: ‘The minor block from Dylan Hartley was clearly obstructive. When has not enough obstruction been a thing?’
This last point is a reference to Clancy’s remarkable observation to the TMO before he gave his decision that there had been obstruction but ‘not enough.’ Why would Clancy try to pre-empt the TMO in his decision?
The point is that obstruction is a strict liability infringement. You can no more obstruct but ‘not enough’ than be a little bit pregnant.
Obstruction on a tackler is obstruction. The remedy is to penalise the player indulging in the obstruction. Hartley should have been penalised and should have been a candidate for a yellow card for a professional foul.
Before those Roar readers who like to accuse me of pig-headed ignorance of the laws get on their high horses, I’d suggest they google The Obstruction Law in rugby union.
When I did this before writing this, the first article that came up was The Evolution of the Obstruction Law which apparently was a ‘major project’ by James Leckie, who is an Australian Test referee.
Leckie goes through the Law Books since 1881 to document the actual wording and development of the Obstruction Law.
It is mentioned, he writes, in 1881 and by 1897 the infringement is being dealt with penalties and free kicks.
In 1908, the year of the first Wallabies tour of the UK, obstruction is ‘first recognised’ as foul play.
By 1955, the law on obstruction had evolved to the point where the notes for guidance of referees say this: ‘An offside player wilfully running or standing in front of another of his team who is in possession of the ball, thereby preventing an opponent from reaching the latter player, should be penalised for obstruction.’
This is exactly what Hartley did.
In his discussion on the law of obstruction and its interpretation in recent years, Leckie (a current Test referee remember) says this: ‘The simple fact of the matter is that if a player, who is in front of a ball-carrying team-mate gets in the way of a defender, who is trying to get to the ball, ball-carrier or possible ball-carrier, then he/she should be penalised for obstruction, if no advantage follows. If this is still too confusing, referees can think to themselves the following: In a possible obstruction scenario, who has initiated contact? If it is the attacker, then obstruction has occurred, and if it is the defender then obstruction has not occurred.’
Hartley clearly broke the obstruction law. I cannot understand how two officials, the TMO and Clancy, could have come to the decision they did.
I would argue, too, that the way Hartley deliberately moved across Moore constitutes a professional foul, with the possibility of a yellow card.
I believe that the chief executive of the ARU Bill Pulver and the chairman of the board Michael Hawker should insist that Clancy, at least, be relieved of Test duties for the forseeable future.
His decision effectively ended the Wallabies chances of defeating England and remaining on track for the first Australian rugby Grand Slam since the glory days of 1984.
The Wallabies are now facing a reverse Grand Slam, a Grand Slammed, with possible losses to the other Home Unions unless the team can pick up its morale and standards starting next week with the Test against Italy.
What the Test showed me, too, is that the gamble of making Ben Mowen the Wallabies captain and the former vice captain (just joking!) Quade Cooper the vice-captain did not work.
The problem is that Mowen is not a Test quality captain, especially when he plays at number 8. He doesn’t push in the scrums but pops his head up immediately the ball goes in, like a meercat, thereby putting enormous pressure on the front five to hold the scrum solid and firm.
He is virtually never seen around the field and is a player who seems to play below rather than above his weight.
It was interesting that James Horwill, the lineout caller for the Test, called himself most of the time (successfully) and hardly called Mowen or the other jumpers. Horwill actually played well.
When Rob Simmons called the lineouts at Dunedin against the All Blacks, he called himself and Mowen and did not call Horwill.
What does one make of this? Not a good sign of a strong team culture, in my opinion.
The demotion didn’t seem to do much for Cooper in lifting his game. He was good but subdued. His missed penalty early on in the second half was a crucial factor in the outcome of the Test.
Genia, though, seemed to be a shattered shell of a player who until recently was rated the best half-back in world rugby. My understanding is that he had hopes on leading the Reds and the Wallabies. But under McKenzie, Genia is a marginal starter whereas with Robbie Deans he was always the first choice when he was available. This rebuff seems to have crushed his spirit.
The Wallabies, the players and the coaching staff, have to get their act together in a hurry for the Test against Italy, and for the remaining Tests.
In my opinion, they were treated badly by the refereeing in the Test against England. But as Alan Jones used to tell his players after Test losses (rather less frequent for his players, of course, than under McKenzie): ‘The dogs are barking but the caravan moves on.’
Finally, the Wallabies might learn a lesson about commitment from Richie McCaw. In the 81st minute of the Test against Japan, with the All Blacks leading 54 – 6, McCaw came across towards the corner flag like an Exocet missile to smash a Japanese player into touch and prevent him from scoring a try.
That is the sort of commitment the Wallabies need to show from now on in a tour that has started disastrously, and could continue in a similar fashion unless some true gold courage comes to the fore.