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Mark Reason: The referees who threaten rugby's healthMark Reason12:19, Feb 18 2020
SKY SPORTBlues v Crusaders
Damian
McKenzie and Richie Mo'unga reminded us at the weekend of the
extraordinary talents that so often blaze across New Zealand Rugby. They
also reminded us, unwittingly, of the crude side of the game. Mo'unga
in particular was a target for the wreckers who, pumped up by their own
competitive envy, go about smashing up the revellers at the dance.
The game at large has recognised that the scourge of the high tackle is
a problem that cannot continue. It is simply not okay that Mckenzie and
Mo'unga and the rest of the magicians should confront a painful, fuggy,
drooling middle-age when their glory days have passed. It is simply not
okay to let sportspeople beat each other about the head.
But New Zealand, or at least large parts of the rugby community, are
still struggling to come to terms with this relatively simple concept.
There are still way too many high tackles going on in Super Rugby and it
is scandalous just how infrequently they are being penalised.
In the four games involving Kiwi teams at the weekend just gone, I
counted around forty high or dangerous tackles (several from the
opposition, particularly the Sunwolves). There was one yellow card and
four penalties. That means about one in ten dangerous tackles is being
penalised. So what on earth is going on?
Hannah PetersReferees
need to better protect playmakers such as the Crusaders' Richie Mo'unga
from high tackles, asserts Stuff columnist Mark Reason.
READ MORE:
* Reason: 'ABs should learn to tackle, or go home'
* Some Kiwis lash out after World Cup failure
* Study shows refs' 'home bias'
* Reason: Crusaders choose money over morality
J'accuse Lyndon Bray. Super Rugby's game manager has consistently
failed to bring the southern hemisphere's premier competition up to
northern standards of safety conscious officiating. Bray has appeared to
be far more interested in the 'product' than in player welfare.
Marty MelvilleLyndon Bray, Sanzaar's referees manager, pictured during his role as NZ rugby referees chief in 2010.
Before this season Bray said; "The (referees') camp has allowed the
Super Rugby refereeing team to continue to evolve its game plan and
match management protocols, anchored by the key deliverable, "how do we
as referees deliver a successful Super Rugby game?" Within this is the
main objective to assist the very talented players in the tournament to
play their best rugby."
When your mouth is full of words like protocol and key deliverable, you
know that it has headed south and now resides somewhere near your
backside. The main job of the referee is to referee fairly, accurately
and safely. He is not a ringmaster. Super Rugby refs failed at all three
of those "key deliverables" at the weekend.
Evan BarnesPaul Williams, pictured refereeing the Crusaders-Waratahs game, failed to protect the Crusaders from high tackles by the Blues.
Paul Williams is a promising young referee but he failed to protect the
players in the game between the Blues and the Crusaders on Friday
night. There were some horrendous tackles in the match and they went
unnoticed and unpunished.
Most of the violence came from the Blues. In the fourth minute Patrick
Tuipulotu, who otherwise had an outstanding game, came at Mo'unga. His
tackle was high, reckless and his shoulder appeared to make contact with
Mo'unga's head. It looked like a red card offence. Not even a penalty
was given.
This official negligence extended to TMO Shane McDermott who did not
intervene once to call Williams's attention to dangerous play. It is as
if the World Cup never happened. It is as if World Rugby's belated, but
laudable attempts to make the game safer never happened.
Mo'unga was the victim of three attempted high shots and nothing was
done. TJ Faiane was guilty of three high tackles in the second half and
Tuipulotu and Parsons were out of order on more than one occasion. They
too were not sanctioned.
Fiona GoodallCrusaders prop Oli Jager leaves the field after an accidental clash of heads.
It was also noticeable how different the tackle technique of the two
teams was. The Crusaders got it badly wrong on one occasion when Oli
Jager and Codie Taylor were upright and had a horrible clash of heads.
But they have changed. They are consistently going far lower than in
previous seasons.
The Blues have not managed to make the same progress. This is surely
down to coaching. The cheerful Tana Umaga, not noted for sparing
opponents' heads during his playing days, is in charge of the Blues'
defence. Mark Jones, a former Wales wing, is in charge of the
Crusaders's defence.
Jones said before the season; "We've been working pretty hard on our
tackle technique. And I think all the Super franchises would have been
buying into that too. I think it's a sensible approach to the game."
Most Super Rugby teams, with the exception of the Blues, have made
significant improvements in their tackle height. Unfortunately the
referees and officials have not.
The failure of Nic Berry and TMO Ian Smith to red card Sio Tomkinson
was shocking. How on earth did they think there was no contact with the
head of Tom Banks. Berry sent off Bundee Akee and John Quill at the
World Cup, so he knows the standard.
It is hard not to assume that, back in the southern hemisphere, their
standards have dropped. Oh my goodness, don't give someone a card, it
might spoil the product. Tomkinson was guilty of a dangerous tackle that
lacked a wrapping arm in the first half and he was ludicrously let off
by a jury, headed by a New Zealander, after Glen Jackson had rightly
sent him off for a dangerous tackle on Brodie Retallick. Tomkinson has
form.
A swinging arm from the Sunwolves Conraad van Vuuren to the head of the
Chiefs first five only merited a penalty in the game over in Japan.
'Wow' said the Chiefs coach in the box when the decision was relayed.
But it was a weekend of wows.
Dianne MansonReferee Ben O'Keeffe's rulings questioned in Hurricanes v Sharks game.
And the biggest wowser was Ben O'Keeffe. From the end of the first half
of the game between the Canes and the Sharks, the New Zealand ref made a
series of decisions that reminded you of the days when the man in the
middle would say; "Our ball."
He changed a decision at TJ Perenara's request. He let the Canes seven
consistently play ball off his feet. He gave the Canes a scrum when
Lukhanyo Am had caught a kick, so regardless of whether it was ruck or
maul, it was still Sharks ball. His touch judge missed a Canes foot in
touch. O'Keeffe said advantage from a knock on when circumstances
clearly dictated that there was no such thing and the Canes waltzed back
in for a try.
There were numerous more decisions that were clearly wrong in this
match-deciding 20 minutes. It finally came to a head, literally, when
Dane Coles slid in on the tackled man on the ground and made contact
with his head. Between them O'Keeffe, the ref who failed to send off
Reece Hodge at the World Cup, and TMO Aaron Paterson decided that there
was "an attempt to wrap" so "just a penalty."
This was an astonishing decision. Mind you, this was the duo that had
earlier ruled out a Sharks try for a forward pass that was three phases
back. But the point about Coles was that he had no business sliding into
a tackled player on the ground. So his act was both illegal and
dangerous. It was a straightforward yellow card.
GETTY IMAGESA stoush involving Hurricanes hooker Dane Coles and his Sharks rivals.
But just in case the refs had a multiple brain fade, Coles made their
job easier by playing a Sharks jumper in the air (he dove through
dangerously on the legs) at a lineout two minutes later. Just a penalty.
The Sharks captain Am observed wryly after the game that his side had
not had "the rub of the green."
The Sharks did not have the rub of the green but neither did all the
players who were victims of the dangerous tackles. Do you expect any
player to be suspended (apart from Tomkinson) for repeated dangerous
play as the new 'protocols' allow? Do you expect any referee to be stood
down?
No, nor do I. It's a worry. The eight red cards at the World Cup, more
than the previous four tournaments combined, changed the game for the
better. The Southern Hemisphere officials, with New Zealanders to the
fore, are in the process of changing it back again. It's got to stop.
It's time that Mark Robinson, the new CEO of New Zealand Rugby, used his
power and spoke out. This is not about rugby, it's about health.
