World Rugby should employ the referees and loan them out

If you think back to the Lions tour, you will remember how much of a fuss was made of the nationality of the referees for the Tests, with the perception being that the game is refereed very differently between the hemispheres. I believe that perception could change if the management and coaching of the top-level referees took place under one umbrella.

The way to do that and ensure a consistent standard across the board is if World Rugby themselves employed a select group of referees. If you had, say, six to eight top-class officials – and I would add Angus Gardner, Jerome Garces and Glen Jackson to the three I mentioned earlier

– all trained together by an accredited coach who would also act as a conduit between the refereeing and coaching divisions of the game, then it could only be a good thing.

At present they are all employed by their individual unions and then loaned out for internationals, but I think that should be reversed. I would like Wayne Barnes, for example, to be a World Rugby employee who is then loaned, for a fee of £500, say, to the RFU to cover a Premiership game.

Ensuring referees are more consistent would be a huge positive and I think this would really help the global game in that regard.

I have long had strong opinions on these three ideas. I have tried to raise them within rugby without success, which is why I am airing them here, because I believe a conversation about these issues would be good for rugby.

I also do not say these things to criticise current referees – instead I believe these measures would help them. They do a fine job in what are becoming increasingly trying circumstances. But we cannot ignore the fact players, fans and officials themselves are frustrated with the current situation. These small changes would be a start to changing that.