as an international referee and IRB referees boss Paddy O'Brien has stepped down with immediate effect.
It seems like O'Brien was forced to step down after some members were unhappy with him being soft on referees especially for defending Bryce Lawrence.
http://www.supersport.com/rugby/international/news/120324/Lawrence_axed_OBrien_steps_down
It's about time. It looks like the pressure is finally mounting on the IRB to sort out the poor state of officiating in the game.
OH no .say it is'nt so lol..More like the death threats have chased him off. lol
Kiwis will never admit to the fact that BL is a poor referee.
Intimidation of referees only happens in SA so i would'nt be too proud of that fact
Paddy has always been hopelessly anti Bok going all the way back to his sending off of Jannie. Bryce is just a poor ref....incompetence tends to be self limiting.
As for you adder....I'd cork it.
Or else you'll hit me with a symphony mozart ? lol
Pffffft......I'll play you like a percussion instrument udder, music can be quite violent.
As long as you don't hit me with any of that classical music - that would be torture
Why don't you just blame South Africans intimidation for him being axed from the IRB panel.
AWESOME.....WE ALL KNOW that NZ had to make Bryce their Ref of the year in order to Justify their World Cup win. The All Black are NOT world champs on Merit.
I can also tell you that their is a documentary coming out beind done by an independant Aussie Film Company on the whole world cup/match fixing bullshit and appearantly some whisteblowers has come forward revealing some shocking stuff that will make the IRB KAK their pants.
The All Blacks were helped across the line and according some sources, they HAD to win no matter what...decided by CERTAIN members of the IRB AND NZ RUGBY UNION even before the world cup.....I FEEL ANOTHER HANSIE SAGA COMING ON.....ABOUT TIME....CHEATING BASTARDS.
International Rugby Board referees boss Paddy O’Brien has stepped down with immediate effect and New Zealand referee Bryce Lawrence has been dropped from the international panel as rugby’s controlling body announced its changes for the June test window.
O’Brien will move to become High Performance Manager for the Sevens series, ostensibly to “get referees ready for the Olympics” but both moves are a throwback to the unhappiness of the handling of referees at the Rugby World Cup.
O’Brien’s move has been on the cards for a few months now, after some member nations were unhappy at his handling of referees across the globe, and while the body has sent out a press release praising his contribution, the fact that it announced the move without a successor seems to confirm the unhappiness.
Lawrence, who was unbelievably named New Zealand’s referee of the year, has been in freefall since taking charge of the Rugby World Cup quarterfinal between the Springboks and Wallabies, a game where he allowed the Wallabies the freedom of the park as they won despite having little possession.
Lawrence was widely criticised for his handling of the game, which bundled the Springboks out of the World Cup and was subsequently not given any Six Nations games at the beginning of 2012, with Sanzar refereeing boss Lyndon Bray admitting he needed to be “rehabilitated” following the performance.
O’Brien heavily defended Lawrence after the performance, and has been seen in the past to be lax on accountability in refereeing circles. His contribution to refereeing was, however, praised by IRB President Bernard Lapasette.
“O’Brien will now focus his extensive experience into a similar role for Rugby Sevens, underlining the IRB’s commitment to Sevens ahead of Rugby making its return to the Olympic Games at Rio de Janeiro in 2016. He remains central to the match official process and is supportive of the restructure,” the IRB Statement said.
IRB Chairman Bernard Lapasset said: “Paddy’s exceptional dedication and application to driving forward elite match official standards has significantly benefitted the Game over the past seven years. He will be a tough act to follow as a Referee Manager and I am delighted that he will be channelling all his experience into preparing the best up-and-coming match officials on the HSBC Sevens World Series to ensure that the very best referees are in peak form for 2016.”
Also off the IRB panel is the world’s most experienced referee Jonathan Kaplan.
The IRB refereeing forum also committed itself to allowing the best referees to be selected on form to “officiate in the biggest matches in the run up to Rugby World Cup 2015.”
“The committee, which includes former elite referees Lyndon Bray, Tappe Henning (both Sanzar), Donal Courtney and Clayton Thomas (both Six Nations), will now meet four times per year and make selections for the next international window with all performances reviewed as part of the next round of international selections,” the statement read.
“Following a thorough review of performances during the recently conclude Six Nations, the selection committee's commitment to promoting consistency has been reflected in the latest selections with nine elite referees appointed to the top matches in what is a busy June international window that also sees the beginning of the schedule involving tours to Tier 2 Unions.”
Acting chairman of the selection committee and IRB Council member for Scotland John Jeffrey said: “The IRB is committed to ensuring that the platform is in place to promote the very best refereeing standards at the elite level of the Game. Our priority is the continued promotion of consistency and performance and our strategic goal is to deliver the best available panel for Rugby World Cup 2015 while at the same time applying the best-for-best principle in the selection of referees for each international window.”
“There will be consistent movement in and out of the panel based on form to reward the top performers and those making the step up as we build towards RWC 2015 in England. In short, this means that referees are selected on merit, in form and closer to the matches being played. All Member Unions are committed to this process, which is essential for its success.”
Underscoring its commitment to ensuring selection on form, there will now be four selection meetings per year to tie in with the four international windows. At each meeting, the referee panel for the next international window will be reviewed and named.
The committee agreed that the key areas of the Game identified for particular focus by referees needed constant reviewing. Those five key areas are:
• All aspects of the tackle with particular emphasis to be placed on the tackler releasing the tackled player and rolling away and arriving players staying on their feet
• Offside at the breakdown
• Offside from kicks
• All aspects of the scrum, particularly the engagement process and front-row binding
• All aspects of the maul, particularly what constitutes legal maul defence
The IRB Elite refereeing panel is: George Clancy (Ireland), Jérôme Garcès (France), Craig Joubert (South Africa), Nigel Owens (Wales), Jaco Peyper (South Africa), Chris Pollock (New Zealand), Romain Poite (France), Alain Rolland (Ireland) and Steve Walsh (Australia).
Some interesting material in there Red. In my view the critical change that has to be accomplished is more security for the ball carrier, not a fairer contest at the breakdown. The contest is already evenly balanced. It needs to be tipped towards the ball carrier for teams to have the confidence to accept a tackle out wide. Failing this, rugby becomes a gaining grounds game.
On the subject of Paddy....his departure is a blessing.
I believe there are too many rules making it even harder for referees these days. In athletics they used to have "on your marks"..."get set"....go". As we know that's all been dumped for a seemingly smoother start, the IRB should do away with "crouch" ..."touch"..."pause" " engage"...it hasn't helped, if anything there are more stoppages. Then there's the policing of the breakdown where there are far too many rules horribly exposed to interpretation.....referees and fans are not rocket scientist.
RedR anybody nailing these nz cheats would have done rugby a huge service. Its the sheer arrogance of voting bl as their ref of the year that staggers one. How arrogant do you get? How contemptuous of your opponents!!
Worse still we had a few closet ab supporters like windpomp actually making every manner of excuse for Bl. His big argument was it wasnt the ref who lifted that oz players leg and led to the winning penalty by OZ!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Bwahahahahahahaha what a hatter! What a twister!!!!
Let the truth come out I say.
