Cup flows over with crucial gaffes

Here's what I'm not going to do: I'm not going to spend all column arguing the rights and wrongs of the decision to disallow Sam Underhill's “try” against the All Blacks.

Some very fine British rugby writers have made themselves look silly by claiming there wasn't clear evidence that Courtney Lawes was offside at the ruck that led to him charging down TJ Perenara, an act that sent Underhill rumbling down the Cabbage Patch while discombobulating the defensive angles of Beauden Barrett.

If Lawes wasn't offside, then climate change is a hoax and Magellan's ship did in fact tip over the edge of a flat Earth and we're all slaves to a fake-science conspiracy.

Once Marius Jonker was asked to rule on that phase of play by Jerome Garces, a referee held in no fond regard by New Zealanders after last year's Lions series, he had little choice but to acknowledge the infringement.

Whether he should ever have been asked to look at the replay is moot, and therein lay the more logical English grievance. Even Kiwis, the ones whose mood doesn't sit on a bell curve reflected by rugby results, could see poetic justice in the All Blacks being beaten that way after an afternoon pockmarked by wretched box kicking.

The English could also feel justifiably peeved by a non-decision even later in proceedings. As spotted by my eagle-eyed colleague Patrick McKendry, in the game's dying moments with England in possession and on attack, replacement prop Ofa Tuungafasi tackles an England player and makes no attempt to release him. It is, by rugby's arcane standards, a clear and obvious infringement that would have given the hosts a giltedged opportunity for three points.

This could be an endless game of suit and counter-suit but it is futile. What is more interesting is the idea that one of these game-defining TMO decisions or non-decisions could alter the course of next year's World Cup.

Uh, hello? Where have you been these last 30 years or so?

With a minimum of research, let's count the “clear and obvious” ways World Cups have been affected by officials. Let's start in the misty recesses of time at Concord Oval in Sydney. France won a pulsating semifinal with a Serge Blanco try five minutes into injury time. It's still considered by many to be the greatest World Cup match played.

The try should never have stood. French lock Alain Lorieux was a mile offside from Patrice Lagisquet's centring kick, Laurent Rodriguez knocked the ball on before making the final pass to Blanco, who was possibly in touch before he dotted down. Never mind.

Let's skip the drudgery of 1991 and move on to South Africa, where the narrative remains that rugby — a divisive sport in South Africa's history — is finally united after charismatic black leader Nelson Mandela wears the Springbok jersey of Afrikaner captain Francois Pienaar.

History is written by the winners, right, so far less attention is given to extremely fortunate circumstances in which they made the final. Welsh referee Derek Bevan denied France's Abdel Benazzi what looked a clear try late in their semifinal and South Africa clung on 19-15. (Bevan, to his embarrassment, would later be awarded a gold watch by South African rugby supremo Louis Luyt.)

Whereas Bevan was never one to concede mistakes, at least Paddy O'Brien had the good grace to admit to his portfolio of poor decisions that cost Fiji any hope of victory in a 19-28 loss to France in 1999. How might that World Cup had been turned on its head if Fiji scored a deserved upset.

Four years later, Mils Muliaina was unfortunate to have an early try ruled out that could have changed the course of the All Blacks’ semifinal against Australia. In the final, South African Andre Watson almost singlehandedly kept the Wallabies pack in the match against a much tougher England eight, though the right result probably occurred in both matches.

Remember Cardiff, 2007? The ludicrous yellow card against Luke McAlister; the pass from Damien Traille to Freddie Michalak that was only slightly less forward than Joe Montana's famous completion to Dwight Clark; France's “flawless” discipline for the entire second half.

Moving on . . . The All Blacks got a measure of revenge against France in the 2011 final when Craig Joubert appeared to ignore obvious offences by Andrew Hore and Jerome Kaino as the hosts clung to a sphincterclenching 8-7 lead.

Last time around the same ref beat a hasty retreat after gifting a late penalty in a certain Australia Scotland quarter-final.

The point of this trip down memory lane is not to shame refs, who have a nigh-on-impossible job, or even to relitigate injustice. It is to highlight that every Rugby World Cup has turned on one or two big calls.

The only worthwhile debate is the mechanism you use to try to minimise the poor decisions.

Video technology is not going away. How you determine what

How you determine what warrants a replay is the conundrum.

warrants a replay is the conundrum.

Every wrong decision hypothetically affects the outcome of a match, whether it is a missed crooked throw to a lineout in the first minute or the wrongful award of a try in the 76th. You can't revisit every decision or point of contention. But there has to be a more elegant way of combining the resources of the officials to act in real-time to the grievances of the teams.

It has been suggested that rugby adopts a NFL-type system where the coaches can challenge what they think were poor decisions. It is an interesting concept, though the fragmented nature of American football makes it easier to adopt than rugby.

Would the challenges only apply to point-scoring plays, or would you be able to revisit decisions around yellow cards and foul play, which could ultimately have a greater bearing on the result?

Or we could keep muddling along as is, placing the onus for decisionmaking and reviews on officials already under siege on a weekly basis.

Whatever way World Rugby chooses to go you can be pretty sure of one thing: about this time next year, at least one team will be struggling to get over the fact their World Cup was ended by a refereeing error.