BRAY’S ANATOMY

Referees’ boss delves to the heart of what matters in rugby

WHETHER you laud and applaud, or deride and despise Italy’s disregard of the nonexistent offside line in the tackle, it is to be outlawed, according to Lyndon Bray, the game manager for Sanzaar.

Italy’s tactics against England, while perfectly legit, tugged at the seams of the morally conscious and came much to the chagrin of England coach Eddie Jones, who was swift in his withering condemnation.

Bray, who oversees refereeing matters this side of the equator, said while Italy were totally within their rights in disrupting England’s halfbacks, most rugby coaches would like to see the practice outlawed.

“I know most of the coaches are definitely in favour of an offside line throughout the tackle ruck, and definitely of the tackler losing his right when he falls on the wrong side of the tackle. I believe those two laws will come in. It is just a matter of timing,” Bray told the Sunday Times this week.

Jones was incandescent at Italy’s tactics but Bray was quick to point out that the changes will come, not because the England boss was again atop a soapbox, but as a result of exhaustive trials.

“In the last two or three years, there has been considerable work done around the tackle. In the Mitre 10 Cup [in New Zealand], they trialled quite extreme changes last year. What came out of that is that World Rugby has created the potential for a closed law trial around the tackle that looks to implement two things,” Bray said.

“One would be an offside line at the tackle. It is a question of exactly when that comes into play in the tackle.

“Second, taking away the rights of the tackler when he goes to ground on the wrong side of the tackled player.

“We didn’t bring it into Super Rugby but we looked very closely at it. It will be talked about extensively next week in London at World Rugby and Sanzaar meetings.” It cuts to the bedrock of the sport. The integrity of a fair contest is nonnegotiable but Bray is also aware that there is the obligation to accentuate the sport’s aesthetic qualities.

“That is incredibly important. There are two aspects to that. It needs to be enjoyable. It needs to be innovative and allow players and coaches to express themselves in how they want to play the game. You have to create the confidence in players to play with ball in hand.

“At the same time you can’t legislate the whistle will manufacture an unfair advantage to the attacking team. You will impact the contest too much. It is a fine balance,” said Bray, who added that increasingly World Rugby is using coaches to perform a diagnoses of the game. Self-analysis is an ongoing process. Bray used an example from the opening round of Super Rugby. “We spoke about not playing on at a collapsed scrum in the interest of the feeding team clearing the ball when the non-feeding team dominated and pushed forward. If you allow the feeding team to collapse having gone back half a metre and you just play it out, they are going to collapse it every time.

“If we are doing that, we are not fair to the team that is dominating.”

He accepts that referees will get it wrong from time to time but that because of rugby’s complex nature, its combatants are more understanding of mistakes. “That is what sets rugby apart from a lot of other sports. In soccer, rugby league, cricket and tennis most of the adjudicating is very black and white.”

Because of the sheer speed and ferocity at which the game is played, particularly in the southern hemisphere, the physical demands on referees have increased.

They have become younger, less experienced. Super Rugby’s refereeing pool has increased to 19 but only two referees, Jaco Peyper and Glen Jackson, have been in charge of more than 50 matches.

“We’re up to our fourth ex-Super Rugby player coming up as a Super Rugby referee [Jackson, Jamie Nutbrown, Nic Berry and Egon Seconds]. Some people ask if that creates an unfair balance to those who have come through a referee career pathway.

“I don’t think it makes any difference. In fact, I think it is a really good balance getting to about 25%-30% ex-Super Rugby players in our squad. That also helps the attractiveness of the career,” said Bray.

He believes the southern hemisphere’s supply line is in rude health. He said top referees need to meet three criteria focusing on character, training behaviour and game behaviour.

“We look at the strength of the person. How emotionally intelligent they are, their resilience, how open they are to learning, dealing with failure and handling mistakes. Are they capable of handling themselves in a pretty high-powered environment?

“With training, we look at whether the person is capable of being an athlete.

“Under game behaviours, we look at if they are able to set standards and can they control the flow of Super Rugby games.”

For all his vetting and analysing, Bray knows referees will continue to make mistakes. He just wants to minimise it. FIRM: Sanzaar game manager Lyndon Bray said this week that the tactic of disrupting halfbacks at the scrum would be outlawed