TMO ‘disappointed’ he allowed himself to be distracted by crew
Television match official Stuart Terheege has admitted to being “disappointed” by his communications during last weekend’s Saracens-Harlequins match. But he denied the commentary from TV summariser Austin Healey had affected his decision-making over a collision between Quins captain Stephan Lewies and Saracens’ Owen Farrell.
Terheege had faced accusations of overlooking player welfare when he was inadvertently heard on the air appearing to decline to review Lewies’s off-the-ball challenge, and explaining: “Yeah, mate the problem I have got now, it looks like Austin’s instigating it, because we’re late, so I don’t want to talk about it, OK?”
In a statement issued by the Rugby Football Union yesterday afternoon the Professional Game Match Officials Team (PGMOT) argued that Terheege had reviewed the incident in the background and decided it merited no more than a penalty, and that the short passage heard by viewers was taken from a conversation between Terheege and the TV director.
The inference is that Terheege was trying to have a say in which replays were being shown to viewers, as opposed to snubbing a suggestion that he should continue to look at the incident.
The PGMOT statement read: “The Professional Game Match Officials Team regret that questions have been raised about player safety and decision-making. Match officials take player welfare incredibly seriously and it is their overriding priority.
“At the time of the Farrell try, the Television Match Official (TMO), Stuart Terheege asked the TNT Sports Director for clips around the incident to review in the background before deciding whether to call an official review into the foul play incident, or not.
“This is a common request from TMO to director, that occurs in rugby broadcasting to enable the TMO to decide whether an official review is required. Simultaneously, the TMO also checked the grounding on the Saracens try.
“In relation to the act of foul play committed by Stephen [sic] Lewies against Owen Farrell, the TMO saw the initial contact off the ball. He decided on the evidence that it was no more than a penalty advantage. As Saracens went on to score, that advantage was deemed to have been taken, so no further action was required.
“In response to Stuart’s initial request for images the director asked the TMO if he wanted to look again at the incident. The TMO declined, as he was confident in his original decision. At the same time, the TNT Sports commentary team also saw the replays and posed the question whether Lewies’s actions warranted a review.
“The conversation between TMO and director that was broadcast ‘live’ was regrettable, they were not intended to be heard outside of the broadcast truck nor were they the reason for the foul play incident not being formally reviewed.
“Terheege is disappointed that he allowed himself to be distracted with interactions with the broadcast team and did not communicate his decision to the on-field match officials.
“The incident was an unusual and unfortunate occurrence. The PGMOT, Premiership Rugby and TNT Sports are working closely together to make sure this does not happen again.”