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When the referees were initially announced for the British and Irish Lions tour, I found myself very disappointed, yet at the same time, completely unsurprised.
Angus Gardner, one of the form referees on the planet, pushed to one side in favour of two French referees that are perhaps the strongest advocates for dour, grinding play there is.
To be clear, I enjoyed the All Blacks losing thoroughly. To see an All Black red carded is something I intend to tell my children and grandchildren about one day.
But referee Jerome Garces’ performance was inconsistent and poor.
To begin with, let’s talk about the one thing he did get right: the red card. The shoulder charge to the head was undoubtedly red. It was violence. End of story.
But let’s unpack Garces’ performance and examine what went wrong.
Firstly, the offside line. Northern hemisphere referees seem to consistently think that the offside line simply doesn’t exist.
The Lions have been systematic rorters of this, with Lions players consistently offside the entire game.
SkySport New Zealand summed it all up when they showed a replay of a second half ruck that involved Maro Itoje standing three metres offside, right in front of the referee, who did absolutely nothing.
Players being offside is the number one block of attacking play in rugby. It encourages teams to kick, because they fear they will be caught behind the gain line and penalised for holding on.
World Rugby knows this and even identified it in one of their reports. Yet they continue to appoint bad French referees that do not support attacking play. One suspects political interference from the ‘Boards That Be’ in Britain, whom would be wise to prevent a game of rugby breaking out.
Next up: The Ruck. Again, this was a total shocker.
To say Garces was incredibly pedantic at the ruck would be an understatement. He was like a drug addict starved of a hit, and the moment anything happened would blow the pea out of his whistle to remind the spectators in Wellington he was still there.
(AP Photo/Mark Baker)
Ruck refereeing must be a balance between allowing a contest for the ball and permitting continuity to occur. Garces, at various points throughout the game, seemed to ensure neither.
Vunipola was penalised for a ruck infringement that had Mr Boomfa himself, Justin Marshall, utterly perplexed.
Garces seemed to consistently ensure that no contest for the ball was allowed, but that teams developing continuity (and by extension, playing rugby) were to be penalised for their heinous crime of attempting to construct a try.
Not to mention Vunipola getting penalised for taking out Barrett late, but an incident not fifteen seconds before on Sexton going unpunished.
Finally, the game-deciding penalty. The All Blacks were wrongfully penalised after one of the Lions players jumped into a tackle. Not only was there nothing the All Blacks defender could do (he was committed to the tackle) but the penalty should have gone the other way.
You jump into a tackle at your own risk, or, if the game desires a paternalistic view of the rules, you should be penalised for causing the dangerous play.
Not the other way around, as Mr Garces decided.
The best of all this is we get to have it all again this Saturday. Romain Poite, who for some ungodly reason is rated highly by referees boss Alain Rolland, has the privilege of refereeing the decider.
A showcase of international rugby, the decider will almost undoubtedly be full of bad ruck penalties, yellow cards for collapsing scrums (while killing the ball will likely get you a free trip to France), and, as always, a complete and utter failure to police the offside line.
Surely it is time for Australia and New Zealand to form a political bloc to oust referees boss Alain Rolland and demand the installation of a referee who will give attacking rugby a fair go at the breakdown.
But of course, nothing will change, and I look forward to writing the same article in four years’ time in South Africa.
Rugby, as always, moves at a snails pace.
Join The Roar rugby editor Christy Doran, former Wallaby Matt Toomua and a cast of regular and special guests as they look at the biggest issues in the game on The Roar Rugby Podcast. If you’re looking for great odds on the next game check out Aussie bookmaker PlayUp. Chances are you’re about to lose. Set a deposit limit.