More refereeing consistency is required in rugby union.
I think most of realise refereeing isn’t an easy job. I also think most of us realise there’s a lot room for interpretation within the laws of the sport. I would think that’s as frustrating to referees themselves as it is to us.
There are obviously a lot of decisions that end up being the subject of public debate. Here are a few from the last couple of years that stand out to me and highlighting the inconsistency of refereeing.
The Folau hair pulling incident of 2017 was one such incident. Now while ‘hair pulling’ or ‘hair tackles’ aren’t actually named per se in the law book, it is covered in the World Rugby Handbook: 10.4 (m) Hair pulling or grabbing which has a lower end sanction of two weeks and a maximum sanction of 52 weeks.
In the law, the act could fall under 10.4 (e) dangerous tackling (above the shoulders) or 10.4 (m) acts contrary to good sportsmanship. I get that perhaps, when the law was written, the writer’s didn’t envisage men pulling each other’s hair, much the same as bowling underarm wasn’t considered enough of a potential threat to make a law about it.
However, this isn’t a one-off incident. While I didn’t think it was intentional, the intention of the tackler doesn’t alter the result. Also, I think there was enough time to realise there was no more jersey in the fist, and letting the hair go. The fact some refs give yellow cards for it and some don’t show that the rules definitely need solidifying.
On the 2018 southern hemisphere teams’ end of year tours to the northern hemisphere, the inconsistency with the Owen Farrell shoulder charges and Johnny Sexton high tackles were noticeable.
Owen Farrell shoulder charged two opponents in a matter of weeks – the first on Andre Esterhuizen in the Test against South Africa at Twickenham. If South Africa had been awarded a penalty for foul play, Handre Pollard would’ve no doubt kicked the winning points.
The second was on Izack Rodda against Australia, again at Twickenham, again in the last moments of the game, and again it could’ve changed who won the game had the incident been penalised.
What makes it worse, is that Cheika attended a referees meeting before the Test and was told that Farrell’s shoulder charge on Esterhuizen should’ve been a penalty!
Campese tweeted, “I can’t believe that Owen Farrell did it again. No arms in a shoulder charge tackle. When will the IRB (World Rugby) site [sic] this guy for it? This is not in the spirit of the game”.
I must admit to agreeing with him.
Owen Farrell earned the ire of Australian fans for his shoulder charge on Izack Rodda. (Photo by Visionhaus/Getty Images)
Now, I read comments from people saying Farrell didn’t make contact with the head and that it wasn’t intentional. First off, shoulder charges have never been acceptable in rugby union. The laws, originally written in 1871, were unfortunately ambiguous: “A tackle is when the holder of the ball is held by one or more players of the opposite side but has always relied on the gentlemanly spirit of the game”.
But, as has come up many times last year, according to the law, the intention of the tackler doesn’t actually matter and therefore should not play a part in the resulting decision.
Secondly, a shoulder charge is not legal, plain and simple. A tackle requires the arms to be wrapped – and in both cases, Farrell’s weren’t. Now if a South Africa player had unintentionally and unmaliciously shoulder charged Farrell without making contact to the head, would those people still feel okay with no card being given?
To me, they weren’t red card offences, but the first should’ve been a penalty and the second should’ve resulted in Farrell being in the bin for ten minutes and perhaps even a penalty try.
Of course, had both shoulder charges been penalised that way, England would’ve lost both games. As Patrick McKendry put it, “Not only did he get away with a blatant shoulder-charge on South Africa’s Andre Esterhuizen at Twickenham when a penalty could have cost his team the test, an act that was analysed and replayed over and over, he was at it again during England’s win over Australia with a try-saving shoulder charge on Wallaby Izack Rodda which should have resulted in a penalty try. Both tackles could have earned a yellow card at least and yet there was nothing; not even a penalty”.
McKendry suggests World Rugby “may like to have a think about the way they have encouraged Farrell’s tackling technique (and to condone it is to encourage it)”. While World Rugby is constantly repeating how serious they are about head injuries, they need to be more consistent with penalising such acts as “tackling like Farrell does is dangerous for the ball carrier but also the tackler”.
As far as shoulder charges go, the British and Irish Lions’ second Test against the All Blacks in New Zealand had its fair share of controversy. I had no issues with Sonny Bill Williams being red carded for shoulder charge on Anthony Watson as he make contact with the head.
I don’t think it was malicious (not that that affects the referee’s decision), but more of a brain-fart moment. It is worth noting though that “Garcès had decided the offence was worth a red, but his two colleagues seemed unsure”.
However, in that same match Mako Vunipola targeted Beauden Barrett twice. The first was a late tackle, which received a penalty, and the second was “a particularly vicious clear-out” shoulder charge on a prone Barrett which caught him on the jaw.
According to Phil Gifford, “The late, no arms, shoulder charge screamed for a yellow card, and it would have been hard to argue that his dive into an unprotected Barrett on the ground didn’t raise the level very close to red”.
As far as I’m aware, the jaw is part of the head so one has to wonder why Garcès was satisfied with only sending Vunipola to the bin for te -minutes, especially how it was his second foul play infringement of the match. Where was the consistency? Goodness, if a ref can’t be consistent in one game, it’s bad news for rugby.
Sexton often tackles high, and rarely gets penalised for it. According to Petese Cannon, “[Sexton’s] technique with regards tackling is often purposefully high in order to wrap both man and ball at the same time, slowing the attack down and on occasion stripping the actual ball for his team”.
In a 2016 interview with the Irish Times, Sexton said he tackles high “because it stops the opponent from offloading”.
In the 2016 re-match against the All Blacks in Dublin after the win at Soldier Field in Chicago, he had Beauden Barrett in what can only be described as a neck-lock over the try-line. In that match, Malakai Fekitoa had been correctly penalised for a high tackle on Simon Zebo, but not Sexton.
Johnny Sexton (centre) needs to work on his tackling. (Photo by Charles McQuillan/Getty Images)
According to an article in the Otago Daily Times, Sexton should “have been yellow carded possibly even sent off if he lucked out with a jittery official for his attempted try-saving tackle on Beauden Barrett in the first half”.
In the recent victory over the All Blacks, the Irish captain, Rory Best, could be heard quite clearly yelling at Sexton to watch his tackling. It seems everybody heard it except the ref!
The tackle Rory was yelling about wasn’t the first of the match, and all but one went unpenalised. In fact, the only penalty given was against the high tackle on TJ.
I daresay that if it had been a player in a black jersey constantly tackling high the crowd and every rugby writer in the northern hemisphere would’ve bayed for his blood.
Steve Hansen has been very vocal in post-match media conferences with his request for more consistency – whether it’s following a loss or a win. As rugby supporters, it’s what we all should want.
In the 2018 series against the French, there was “inconsistency from one game to the next or even within a game”. Hansen has asked for World Rugby “to take another look at the roles of the referee and the three assistants and to also differentiate between foul play and a lack of intent in incidents or accidents”.
He’s also suggested “the television match official was scrapped in a favour of a challenge system for coaches” and put idea forward to World Rugby but it has, so far, been ignored.
With regard to the red card Benjamin Fall received in the second Test, Hansen said, “I think they’ve set a precedent haven’t they when Angus did everything by the book with the French red card and then they let him [Fall] off. They’ve now got to look at that themselves.” So essentially, that decision made refereeing even more difficult than it presently is.
Gardiner hasn’t been the same referee since.
Refereeing isn’t easy and, while mistakes are bound to happen, there are four officials officiating all top level games. This should result in more consistency, not less.
The technology should be used not to whip the crowd into a frenzy as is often the case, but to get the call right. However, equally important is that World Rugby not buckle under pressure from individual nations and overturn referee decisions, and thereby publicly hang referees out to dry.
Kirky
Roar Rookie
Fluidity! what fluidity are you speaking of, there is no fluidity like letting the game flow, it doesn't happen and the reason is of course the plethora of convoluted and stupidly dumb Laws made difficult because they can be made difficult as every Referee has his own interpretation of any said rule which is indicated by the constantly ''heading toward the Referee by the Skipper to query as to ''what was that for''? each time he gets a different answer so it's no wonder when players are left standing around wondering as to why!! they got that for! A classic example was a game a couple of weeks ago between the Blues and the Sharks when the Referee which by all accounts was a Rookie having his first game absolutely whistled the Blues out of the game it was pitiful to see! ~ Also the continual whistle blowing for the most infinitesimal ''knock on'' like a ball moving two inches forward ending up with endless time wasting!
Kirky
Roar Rookie
Dean F. ~ You leave no doubt as to which Team you support, but you're totally incorrect in mentioning Richie McCaw flying into a ruck and breaking jaws etc, I don't remember that, and if you are a keen follower of rugby, you'd know very well that McCaw was never a dirty player, ever! He was a hard player but a fair player and if you mention of him breaking two guys jaws, you can bet he was going in there attempting to clear out any player who was deliberately impeding the passage of the ball by being unpenalized for being offside in that said ruck or maul! ~ McCaw would have received more dirt placed on his gnarled old body for no other reason than going in and getting that ball, than he ever gave out and in fact I can remember that useless piece of Kiwi Lard Skelton when playing for the Aussie's during a break in play and McCaw was just standing waiting to restart with his hands on hips, and for no reason at all this useless fat Skelton flew at him from behind hitting him squarely in the back winding McCaw who went down with some injury of sorts, laid there for a minute or so then got up and play restarted, he never said a word to anybody on the uncalled for and cowardly incident! ~ Topic being dirty uncalled for and unpenalised play, you'll find that it all evens out in the end, as this game of ours is a contact sport no less!
Neel
Roar Guru
Oh by the way, yeah the TMO and the refs have been pretty ordinary at times with their calling.
Neel
Roar Guru
Hi there. Are you that lady from the Kahu Rugby group on FB by any chance?
Rugby Geek
Roar Rookie
Prof_Kaos ever listened to the refs during a game? They do all what you say anyway. They refer to themselves as a team of three. Ref's are a product of their country, personality and Union. All different always different and thats the colour of rugby.
Rugby Geek
Roar Rookie
ZC, For a Rugby Pro I am left a little underwhelmed. The Cry for Refereeing Consistency will never ever ever stop. The sheer fact it's screamed out from the tree tops seems that it is quite consistent. In the hundreds of elite games that are refereed each week the refereeing is by all standards very high. Rugby is one of the most dynamic games played, based on a comprehensive law book that is balanced by an overarching need to have freedom and fluidity to play in a way the team chooses all the time the referee is managing this dynamic fluid approach with a sense of creating a symphony that the crowd pay big money to come and see. The teams (coaching machine) scheme ways to graft advantage in a way that allows them to live in the grey spaces between Black Letter law and a material effect that should not impede the fluidity of the game/spectactical. Richie McCaw possibly the greatest of all players managed this on a level which only real rugby boffins would be in awe, most of the crowd would simply miss. Referees for which I am would tell you that errors in refereeing happen, televised ones are always held up as massive errors (shock, horror) but in reality not to many issues arise. As a some who has also thrown their shoulder behind the wheel of being a coach. You always want to play in a way that keeps the ref out of decisions that control the outcome of a game. The highlighted fau-pars you illustrate are those high impact moments that change the possible result. The amount of work of the referee that goes into reducing the poor judgement calls in a match is phenomenal and the systems that WR and all tiers down go through is extensive. The Game Management Guidelines that are published by WR and each country are clearly testament to this drive for consistency. I would suggest it's been achieved for years now. A process that is statistically well within acceptable margins.
Phantom
Roar Rookie
I question the acceptance of regional interpretations. Clearly not all teams play the same way and their coaches try to get their teams to play to their individual strengths. That aside, how can there be more than one interpretation to any act on the field. The conclusion that I arrive at is that the national body instruct their referees to ref to a style that suits the national team resulting in Regional Interpretations. Not what I want to see.
CUW
Roar Rookie
i think Cheika made Folau look more guilty by trying to defend him :D there is a Chinese saying : a fool is not a fool until he opens his mouth!
jeznez
Roar Guru
Don't know how I missed it, maybe I was on holiday. I certainly didn't see that match. Did a google yesterday for a look and it's a bit of a shocker. I'm not all that surprised to hear Cheika tried to defend it - that is probably even worse than Folau's offence IMO!
Max
Guest
The shoulder charge was allowed in rugby laws. It got banned in the 1980s due to the rise of rugby in the USA where the players had no idea how to tackle properly. From https://sfaganweb.wordpress.com/2012/08/26/dodging-shoulder-charges/ >>> In 1921 charging an opponent in the lineout was banned, but it was still allowed in general play: “Charging is permissible, but it must not be violent or dangerous.”
Ben
Guest
What? Give us some examples or stats to prove this .......
CUW
Roar Rookie
2 refs will confuse further i will like to see a challenge for the captains. and perhaps a centralized review system that will act similar to the punishment panel. one big issue i have is that TMOs have been rubbish - i mean did u see that disallowed try in Cheifs game ? funny thing was everyone waited with abated breath to see if the same fate will fall on Ioane try !!! the TMO in cricket hs managed to reduce the error rate to a minute level - but its not in the case of rugger sadly.
CUW
Roar Rookie
Folau hair pull was very famos - cannot imagine how u missed it ? i mean how can one forget Cheika and some of the experts who came to defend Folau when the whole thig was so obvious on TV !!!
CUW
Roar Rookie
i have no issue with honest errors - but when refs make deliberate errors , i have a big issue. eg : today in the Crusaders match - there was a kick heading for touch only for a crusader to tap it back. i was sure it was out from the TV angle but the touchie waved it as perfect. now - correct me if i'm wrong - but im sure rugger also adopted the football way of ruling balls out in that the ball is out once it leaves the playing plane. that ball was clealry out of the playing pane - but the touchie allowed it. how could he ?? is he not aware of the Law ?? simillarly the last week forward pass ? is the TMO not aware of the LAw ? i doubt anyone can say it is interpretation when it is very clear - in both cases. there are lots more - i forget the ref but early in the season he allowed a shoudercharge - saying its a ruck cleanout. even today the late hit by NOnu on makalio - was let go saying it s push !!! there are many like this where things are clear as can be - but ignored or wrongly reffed. that is the big issue.
Prof_Kaos
Roar Rookie
Didn’t I state that they are prob doing this already? But thankyou, that was most kind of you to share my amateurs views with the professionals. And you are right it is far more important for the average rugby watcher to do a refereeing course than it is for the referees to explain what they do to their audience. Maybe you could give me your email, so in the future I can run my posts past you and your mates for vetting before upload. With all due respect.
Dean F
Roar Rookie
Thank you for the article a great read but I felt you didn't focus enough on some of the All Blacks transgressions ,I agree with Sextons and Farrels tackling there is inconsistencies but let's not forget Ofa shoulder charge to a French players face now you can say all you want that it wasn't intentional ect but that hit left the French player with severe facial injury so yes the All Blacks haven't had their players cited. Ofa should have been cited and banned for that he wasnt. Richie McCaw is a great player and a legend but he has also done one or two shoulder charges on players that left them broken Jaws. If my memory serves me correctly it was the Rugby championship game in Wellington in 2014 where Mccaw raced into a ruck and broke the South African flanks jaw if I remember correctly I think it was Francais Louw now if the ref ,assistants and Tmo had done their jobs McCaw would have been penalised and quite possibly red carded but he wasn't and a few minutes later he went on and scored to win the match for the All Blacks not only did that cost South Africa the match but the rugby championship as well as they went on to win the next fixture. I agree wholeheartedly with Folau pulling a players should have been carded and Farrels tackles should have been penalised as a nh rugby fan . I feel all teams have had their fair share of foul play but when we the All Blacks in my view have benefitted the most of all who can forget the infamous yellow cards on Bismarck du plesis when he put in a good hit on Daniel Carter . For me what was shocking was how Keiran Reid walked up to the ref and kept telling him it should be a red card. Plenty of calls have gone in favour of all teams and neutral refs won't help nor will neutral citing commissioners as one person or another will dislike a certain team more than others so for me this na issue that also needs to be looked at. Captain's trying to tell refs how to card players ect also needs to be stopped and refs bowing to the crowds calls.
Dean F
Roar Rookie
Be the fact most people don't see is that kiwi refs penalise all teams more which means that sa refs penalise ,NZ,sa,aus and Arg teams far less for a more flowing game. I get the penalty count for lions Vs Rebels was odd but lions have worked on their discipline but let's imagine sa refs penalised the same as kiwi refs the penalty counts against NZ teams will be far higher . For me it's not about bias or favouring SA teams it's about being more lenient to all teams.
Melburnian
Roar Pro
Standing in the bar after a Dewar shield game. Just shared your post with a group of officials. Their recommendation is, with due respect, you should take a Foundation course and learn for yourself. What you suggest is already standard practice.
Prof_Kaos
Roar Rookie
When they officially changed their name from "Touch Judge" to "Assistant Referee," IMO pointless, we were told was was to reflect an increased involvement in the game. With the speed the games is now player it has to be pertinent to closely co-ordinate their efforts for efficiency (it's prob naturally happening). I think League got it right assigning the off-side line to the TJs. Assign certain laws/areas to be the principal concern of each of the "ref's team." Ref -mainly follows the ball, closest AR mainly looking at off-sides, forward pass/knock ons, far AR the same plus off the ball stuff, late tackles etc.
The Neutral View From Sweden
Roar Guru
A couple of fixes Two refs on the field Settled ref teams (2 refs, 2 AR, TMO and back up) Always neutral refs Open review reports from SANZAAR every Monday