World Rugby issued a statement on Tuesday conceding that the officiating over the first weekend of the World Cup was not up to scratch and promising it would improve.
Referees became a dominant talking point on the second day of the tournament when all three matches featured officiating that drew heavy criticism from coaches, players and pundits.
The most controversial incident was a high hit by Reece Hodge on Fiji’s Peceli Yato in Sapporo, which was cleared by the match officials on the day but later resulted in a dangerous tackle charge being levelled against the Australia winger.
Argentina coach Mario Ledesma also lambasted the referee for ignoring what he saw as blatant infringements as his side chased a game against France which they ultimately lost, while many South Africans pundits were unhappy at the officiating in their loss to New Zealand.
“Following the usual review of matches, the match officials team recognise that performances over the opening weekend of Rugby World Cup 2019 were not consistently of the standards set by World Rugby and themselves,” the statement read.
“But World Rugby is confident of the highest standards of officiating moving forward.
“Elite match officials are required to make decisions in complex, high-pressure situations and there have been initial challenges with the use of technology and team communication, which have impacted decision-making.”
Hodge faces a judicial hearing on Wednesday and could be ruled out of the crunch Pool D clash against Wales in Tokyo this weekend.
World Rugby chief Brett Gosper said before the tournament that he thought the match officials were better prepared for this World Cup than for any previous edition.
“These (issues) are already being addressed by the team of 23 match officials to enhance consistency,” the statement continued.
“Given this proactive approach, a strong team ethic and a superb support structure, World Rugby has every confidence in the team to ensure that Rugby World Cup delivers the highest levels of accurate, clear and consistent decision-making.”
Carlos the Argie
Roar Guru
Is there any precedent for World Rugby doing this, throwing their refs under the bus? Let me think. Maybe we should ask Craig Joubert.
QED
Roar Rookie
World Rugby could have just said " We took on a lot of leanings from the first week's performance. They are quite a few work on's to do and we will be better for it next week. We are not looking to far ahead to the finals and just taking it one game at a time......"
QED
Roar Rookie
I don't like the extent of TMO's involvement. As with the assistant Refs on the touch line it should start a stop with them pointing out something the on field Ref may have missed or was unsighted then their only roll is queuing up the vision for multiple angles on the big screen for the on field Ref to make his own decision. If there has to be a discussion it should not be miked up. You need one leader on the field who has to stand by their decision.
AndyS
Guest
Regardless of what they think of the refereeing, it is frankly ridiculous for WR to be slinging rocks at it in their shop window tournament. Colossal self goal, making an absolute mockery of their own laws which state that "The referee is the sole judge of fact and of law during a match". Why not just come out and say that the referee is just some bum they found to run around blowing a whistle whenever he feels like it. Even when the laws go on to say "The referee must apply the laws of the game fairly in every match", it doesn't say they have to get it right every time. So unless what WR is actually calling out is that they think the refs are consciously biased...
ClassAct
Guest
Agree with some of these comments. That useless kiwi who penalised Pocock for 3 legal steals and then “low-fives” the Fijian try scorer should be back shining shoes in the Pitt Street Mall after collecting his fortnightly dole cheque from Centrelink
Loosey
Roar Rookie
Do it behind closed doors. They’re already under enough pressure with their employer piling on publicly.
Short Arm
Roar Rookie
Hi ' In brief', the ref in the French game was Aussie Angus Gardner. Yes, you are right he normally favours one team. Usually it is the home side & goes missing when a big call needs to be made.
jeznez
Roar Guru
Have read they have cited them now. Looks like they are re-setting
jeznez
Roar Guru
Ridiculous. So they are citing the two Samoans from last night? Still inside the 24 hour window
Paul D
Roar Rookie
As expected. Throw the ref's under the bus was pretext to hand out a suspension... :angry:
Rumen
Roar Rookie
The mistakes are so obvious what else can they do :))) It is correct to analyzed the mistakes, to make people aware of the work on progress to correct them etc etc. Otherwise, everyone will think they are happy not doing anything, transparency it is always beneficial in todays world. WR is not throwing anyone under the bus but they are recognizing as the top executive body of R that they are looking to further improve the situation.
Brett McKay
Expert
No Carlos, talking about a referee for an entire week before a game is boring. This is World Rugby hanging referees out to dry. Why on earth did this need to be said out loud?!? (Also, stay classy...)
piru
Roar Rookie
I'm not putting my head in the sand, I'm saying it's not a good look for WR to fuel complaints about refs
former fan
Guest
There have been a number of questionable decisions by refs so far ... and many non decisions. Ben O'Keefe seemed to have decided to ignore a big number of rules for his match as did Angus Gardiner and the question is are some of these blokes up to the standard. By contrast the ref for the Wales match was a breath of fresh air when he reviewed the 2 TMO referrals and in both instances he came to correct conclusions about the incidents and declined to be pressured into a decision by the TMO. In far to many matches the TMO has a whisper in the ear and the ref on the field seems to find reasons to card somebody. It's also time to pay tribute to the refs who do a great job and not just whine about the poor ones. Blokes like Wayne Barnes and Nigel Owens communicate very clearly to both the players and spectators so at least we can fathom the rationale behind the decisions so even if not agreed with it is less of a mystery.
Ex force fan
Guest
Refereeing should be a good application for Artificial Intelligence to remove bias and gain consistently. They van start with advising the TMO...
Ex force fan
Guest
I disagree and think it will be better if refs performance ratings are more transparent and if refs are kept accountable for their performance. At this moment everything is done behind closed doors and there seems to be a bias towards French refs. I would like to see a rating system to understand how the top elite 12 refs were chosen for the RWC and how they get credited for their performance during the RWC. Putting your head in the sand is not helping.
Ex force fan
Guest
The ostrich approach doesn’t work. It is great that World Rugby acknowledges what the rugby public also know and that is that the standard of officiating in the opening weekend did not meet expectations. This is elite referees at the RWC that should make fewer mistakes, apply the laws consistently and get the big decisions right. No need to be perfect, however World Rugby should expect them to be consistently good as we expect from any other elite sportsman. It is also good to hear that they have a plan to improve performance as we cannot have another weekend like we had last weekend. For World Rugby to make a public statement there must have a lot of displeasure with the referees behind the scenes especially those coaches that didn’t disclose their real toughts in the press.
Stin
Roar Rookie
There’s no WAY Hodge’s was worse. The Samoan 13 arguably lead with the head. Maybe mitigated by the Russian crouching into it, but it was otherwise red for all Money.
jeznez
Roar Guru
Except that I believe the statement on the refs came out ahead of the Samoa/Russia game. Will the two tackles last night be cited? If not then hard to argue that Hodge can possible be deemed worse.
Melburnian
Roar Pro
Yeah, I hear you. We aren't privy to what WR and the Elite Panel refs have discussed of course but they have had the high tackle framework in operation for some months now without these issues. Suddenly we get to RWC and the TMO is intervening on ridiculous issues. The Framework is very clear, the ball carrier has to drop 'suddenly' e.g. if tap tackled or slips not just an attempted sidestep. TBH, I would have thought Poite was experienced enough to tell the TMO "no that's not mitigation, RC". The fact he didn't make me think WR and Allain Rolland's team have cooked something up in their directives for the RWC but have ended up with unintended consequences, hence the "initial challenges with technology angle".