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The Lachie Swinton debacle is the reason fans will keep pulling their hair out over the TMO and over-officious refereeing.
The reason for having touch judges in the first place was to catch the BIG stuff… stiff arm tackles, dangerous spear tackles, blatant high shots with the shoulder and so on.
The TMO was an extra layer to make sure culprits were caught.
Fans have every right to be irate. Every pernickety movement in the game is under scrutiny but you can’t pick up the big stuff like Swinton flattening Jake Strahan with a lummoxy shoulder?
Don’t just call out the TMO. What about the touch judge? Vision shows him looking at Strahan kicking the ball. Surely, some instincts must have twitched when Strahan didn’t immediately get up.
Some might see the upside as Swinton now not giving away a yellow card at a crucial time at the World Cup.
There was a time when Australian clubs moaned about Kiwi sides heading to these shores without their top line-ups.
That moan can never go up again. The ACT Brumbies sent an under-strength side to Christchurch when they rested a number of Wallabies.
The NSW Waratahs are doing the same for Saturday with Michael Hooper, Lalakai Foketi and Mark Nawaqanitawase taking the game off for workload reasons.
Without that trio, it’s pretty well impossible for the Waratahs to beat the Blues at Eden Park no matter how much effort is put in.
The Brumbies were 18-point losers to the Crusaders in March. The Waratahs will be lucky to get that close.
The race to replace coach Brad Thorn for 2024 has one less runner with Queenslander Tim Sampson committing to the Melbourne Rebels until the end of 2025.
The Rebels assistant coach is one of the few contenders that the Reds could have canvassed with previous head coaching experience in Super Rugby because of his time at the Western Force.
Exactly what does the race look like?
Well, the NSW Waratahs infatuation with Kiwi coaches Daryl Gibson and Rob Penney leaves no legacy on the Shute Shield or Australian Super Rugby scene just a few years later. They are not now giving back to a lower level of the game.
It’s fine to have all these high and mighty ideas about canvassing the world for the best coach.
At some point, Australian coaches have to be given the reins of Australian teams. That’s a lasting investment.
Kiwi Vern Cotter might be a top coach but he collects clubs and moves on. Forget him.
Former Wallabies coach Robbie Deans has connections and an understanding of Australian rugby. The Reds can’t come close to matching what he commands in Japan.
(Photo by Charlie Crowhurst/Getty Images)
Finding someone with head coaching pedigree is important. The Reds of 2024 will be at a far more mature stage of development than the babes of 2018 when Thorn was also a rookie coach learning on the job.
Coaches like Rod Seib, current assistant coach Mick Heenan and Japan-based Zane Hilton all have strong Queensland roots but without head coaching experience at Super Rugby level.
It will be fascinating to see which way the Reds go.
You have to hand it to the Western Force. They are doing their best to find and sign players who can make a difference.
Signing former Wallabies backrower Isi Naisarani will definitely boost their forwards stocks. He’s a workhorse ball-carter and lineout winner.
Openside flanker Carlo Tizzano throws huge energy at a game and a good deal of it is productive. Since his Waratahs days, let’s hope he’s learnt not to break manically from scrums and leave the inside channel open for the opposition.
Winger Zach Kibirige, centre Sam Spink and halfback Gareth Simpson have all been quality signings from the English Premiership.
If the Force are to fire a shot in this second half of the season, it has to start on Saturday night at Perth’s HBF Park with knocking off the Highlanders without Aaron Smith.