Rantings of an armchair referee: Too much TMO and offside remains unclear

They also have not cracked down on halfbacks slowing down the game for the box kick, which they said they would do… “halfback use it…. (3 seconds)…. Use it… (2 seconds)… last chance use it… (halfback kicks)”. My biggest gripe… players not attached at the mall obstructing defenders from blocking the box kick

Thanks for a good article moondoggie. I came here the day of publishing, and I'm surprised that you haven't attracted more comments. I hate the TMO. Get rid of it. Let referees referee and put up with bad decisions like we used to. You obliquely refer to a pet hate of mine in your comment about half backs and rucks. I believe that I have seen many knock ons over the years by half backs fiddling around at the back of scrums and rucks. And yet they get away with it. As an old open side breakaway (my talent was to play badly both sides of the scrum), I didn't like half backs too much. So maybe I'm biased. The other thing I don't get too excited about is the so called deliberate knock down. It's up to the passing side to be able to pass to avoid an attacking defending (does that make sense) player. If that player is good enough to interrupt the play in some way, perhaps by knocking the ball down, then deal with it within the laws. It either goes forward, straight down, or backwards.

Yep 100% agree. All teams this year KNOW that if they hold the ball they will get a penalty. And that is their aim.

Its actually quite farcical when the main scoring avenue in most games - thanks to the rules and the refereeing- is forcing or milking penalties, that the referees actually warn against infringements. If you set the game up to be a penalty fest it’s quite illogical to try to warn players against infringing. But the whole thing is illogical.

Need an electronic line in prof rugby - like a DRS or Hawkeye system. Anyone steps over it beeps and you they get penalised. That would give a bit more breathing space!

But they stand up because they are forced up. Why give a three point kick at goal from anywhere on the field for that? Props fall over for the same reason. You don’t get penalty goals for winning a lineout or making someone miss a tackle.

Good points, agree with most. Especially on the scrum. Get the ball out - use it or lose it, except maybe within 10 metres of the tryline. There is another obvious remedy for the excessive influence of scrum penalties- no kicks at goal, except maybe inside the 22. At least make teams do something constructive to make points, even if it relies on the dreaded rolling maul. Offside is policed terribly - and even worse at kickoffs - they were 3 metres ahead of the kicker in the Wales game. How about having an imaginary electronic line that beeps if anyone goes over it? - that’ll keep them back a nice metre or so! Beale did slap the ball down to prevent a clear overlap, which he and O’Connor had managed to engineer despite defending two on two.

They should just ban the caterpillar ruck. That's the real gripe, at times the ball is trapped in between bodies so some times the scrum half needs to go digging with hands to clear it out but then could definitely say if the ball is not trapped and you touch it ball is out.

Just ban those useless English refs. They are horrible.

ALL refs should be taught how to interpret the same. Not just SH.

With the offside I would be happier if the ref could just tell them to get back. Then let the game continue. To many times we hear the ref tell a player he is offside or needs to role away etc and when the player does they blow the penalty or award a penalty advantage anyway. I say either shutup and dont say a thing or advise and if its done then let play on.

The trouble is players can get put into dangerous positions so quick the play has to stop and that's what causes a lot of it.

The problem with referees is the set up of World Rugby. The Six Nations act like a poor man's OPEC and to Hades with the rest. What we see is that the English and their Celtic colonies always vote as a block which over-powers the SH vote and indeed the rest of the world. Consequently the Neanderthals of the NH decide everything and especially the rules and match official appointments. So when November comes around the referees are trying to impress the STOPs and their Celtic underlings. Hence the appallingly one-eyed, albeit racist, rulings we see on display every Spring in the decadet NH. The NH has at last overcome the previous SH (Superior Hemisphere), dominance of the field and we saw this year a surrender to the Neanderthal Hemisphere rule. World Rugby does not ujnderstand that making the SH weaker does not make world rugbu stronger. Failure to referee the offside rule and only using cards when it suits them is destroying the abilty of play makers and in turn the "Game that's Played in Heaven". The most stupid interpretations of the rules are the taking out the player in the air and the no arms tackle. The English ten barges into ball carriers with impunity while the likes of SBW are sent to the showers for pulling out of tackles. Unless their is intent a no arms tackle is not a barge if the exponent is only trying to avoid tackling late. The ping pond nonsense can easliy be discarded by re-introducing a fair catch anywhere on the field.

Nice write up and good clear explanations. I tend to agree with most of your points. The issue for me with the knockdown is whether the player had a real chance at getting the ball, this will absolutely be subjective but I'm ok with that and if the referee doesn't think there was a real chance then penalty is ok. The off side gets me and I think AR's need to focus on that more and let the referee do the other stuff. Timing is everything there and sometimes players who are quick and get the timing right can look in the wrong, however a good AR should be able to see that. I absolutely agree with "If you are not clearly onside; then you are off side" and wish it was adjudicated that way better. Players who get pinged will change their timing and that's good for the game. I also agree with the playing of the ball in the ruck, hands in the ruck is unlawful and yet a 9 can roll the ball back WT actual F!. Also the 9 has the ball in two hands and looks up, ball out as far as I'm concerned. Far too much lee way given to the 9.

Thanks MoonK9, you have touched on a couple of my pet hates there. Hitting the ball back in play from outside of touch is a shocking law. Surely this has to change back to the player being in the field of play contesting the ball. It use to be out if the ball was over the plane of touch but then they changed it to this one, it just looks so bad. The other biggie is halfbacks rolling the ball back in rucks with their hands, this is "hands in the ruck" whatever way you see it. They have got too lazy to use their feet & the refs are letting them get away with it. Agree with you also on TMO interventions, world rugby has to bring in specific guidelines for TMO's to work within. It's getting to the point the ref is no longer in charge, the TMO is. eg. Jonker V Poite in the Scottish test.

I agree. Points 1 & 4 from the article should be top of the list for world rugby administers to look at.

No thanks, only need one whistle out there. If all the AR's do their jobs properly no need for a second ref.

Completely agree that we have seen the TMO become far more of an influence than they need to be. It's been said before but the TMO is actively looking for reasons to penalise players which has actually slowed the game down on many occasions. I think supporters of all persuasions have thrown their toys at the television watching some of the decisions that have been made because of undue TMO influence this year. Yellow and and in some cases Red cards have been dished out based on ridiculously slowed down TV replays that don't take into account that Rugby is a contact sport. The Wallabies, AB's and Springboks all copped having blokes in the bin when they attempted to tackle opposition players who had the ball and chose to deliberately charge into defenders with their heads bent over like a Rhinos and the rear ends in the air. In essence they were driving their heads into contact at the last minute in a reckless manner. At real speed we are talking about micro-seconds of reaction time. When the TMO slows it down it looks deliberate and clumsy from the defender and this is where TMO's and referees need to understand the nuances. It just builds frustration and anger amongst all supporters and makes the players confused and literally throw their hands in the air. At different stages you could just see it on the faces of Kolisi, Hooper and Whitelock. They were all almost incredulous to the point of "did I miss the rules and regulation meeting around the TMO's involvement?". A lot of this needs to be sorted out as we could see a World Cup Final decided by a TMO howler in 2023. I actually think the game is going backwards because of this and that cannot be a good thing.

Ross: I agree with your point about the deliberate knockdown law, and have thought for years that the law should be changed in the direction you suggest. I don't mind the number of scrums, but I'd like to see play on whenever the ball comes out for one team or the other.

Rugby is a great game, but penalties play too big a part in the proceedings and tactics. I think the deliberate knock down rule is too ambiguous, and not that useful. If the centre is jumping out of the line legally (not offside) then the attacking team probably haven't earned the right to spread it without risk with flat passing. Be consistent with offside first. And for a very unpopular opinion, the main purpose of a scrum seems to be as a penalty factory, with a secondary purpose of a drinks time out. I'd be quite happy to see fewer scrums, taking less time, and less impact on the game.