Gardner deserves invective over spineless decision
The look on Eddie Jones’s face after referee Angus Gardner ruled against the penalty that would have given the Springboks a late chance of victory may have summed up what a travesty it was.
The England coach’s face after the final whistle at Twickenham had that look that says, “Phew, I don’t know how we got away with that one.”
And if there was incredulity mixed with his feeling of relief, it was well founded.
Of course, it wasn’t the first time in the history of rugby union that an international game was decided by an appalling refereeing decision. There have been many such instances, and iconic Test series have been decided by mistakes that were made far more frequently in the era before the advent of the TMO. But that is really what makes Gardner’s decision to allow what to most people looked like a blatant shoulder charge so astonishing, and why every bit of invective sent his way is fully justified.
Those South Africans who are also Liverpool supporters in the round-ball game would have had a double reason to be incensed on Saturday evening. About 45 minutes after Gardner’s gutless refusal to make a ruling against the home team, a Liverpool goal was disallowed by an offside call in an enthralling clash with Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium. Every soccer pundit with a forum to air their view agreed: The Sadio Mane goal should have been allowed. The ruling affected the result. Scarcely a week goes by in the Premier League without a refereeing controversy somewhere. But what makes the officiating blunders more excusable in the Liverpool game was it all happened in a split second, and no technological help is allowed to the referees in that competition.
Gardner did not have that excuse. He had a chance to review the incident on the big screen, and he had a TMO working with him. It wasn’t like the incident that invoked the ire of the Scottish nation when SA referee Craig Joubert was officiating at Twickenham in a 2015 World Cup quarterfinal.
The protocols in place at the time did not allow Joubert to consult, which was why he didn’t. The penalty was awarded and the Wallabies took advantage by kicking it and remaining in the World Cup. Gardner had plenty of time to study the footage, and he still got it wrong. His call was a sign of either incompetence or gutlessness, and it did rob the Boks of a chance of winning.
Those who disagree with the contention that Gardner got it completely wrong should throw themselves forward to the next Super Rugby season and imagine Gardner is in charge of a game involving the Sharks. Imagine that André Esterhuizen, who was on the receiving end of Owen Farrell’s charge that caused the controversy, goes in with a similar no arms tackle on an opposition player.
Is Gardner not going to penalise him? If it is early in the game, I would bet my house on him not only penalising Esterhuizen, but also yellow carding him.
Imagine that World Rugby do not sanction Gardner for his mistake, and say that it is okay, the Farrell charge was legitimate. What is to stop coaches from studying the footage of that tackle, with a precedent having been set by Gardner because of the time he had to make his call.
If World Rugby, after also studying the video evidence, says it is okay, wouldn’t coaches be within their rights in the off-season to coach their players to turn what Farrell did into a textbook challenge? And if they did, where would the game be then? The Farrell shoulder charge was most emphatically dangerous.
World Rugby have to throw the book at Gardner. He doesn’t have the excuse that it happened quickly and that there was human error.
He simply lacked the backbone to make the big call that was required, and at the highest level of the game that can’t be allowed.