Views Get over it Rassie, slo-mo shows the ref was spot on
Slo-mo is a strange beast: sometimes it can make an incident seem to be more serious than it is, and the slower it goes the worse it can look, yet on other occasions it sheds light on the situation.
The one thing that is certain is that still photographs – and there are those who express a view based on them – are utterly useless. We’ve all seen pictures that make it look as though a gouge has occurred, but in real-time the hand accidentally passes near the eyes in a fraction of a second.
Watching it live, I was convinced Owen Farrell would get carded, and that South Africa would probably land the kick and win the game. However, as soon as the slo-mo replay was shown, my view totally changed, and I’m firmly in the camp that says the ref got it spot on.
The video of the Saffers practicing their tackle technique, and trying to emulate what they perceived as Farrell’s high shot, was amusing, but ultimately it just made Rassie Erasmus look a bit silly and a bit sad – they lost, and need to get over it.
Andy Goode, however, made the point that if it had been a Pacific Islander making the tackle, he suspected they would have been treated differently, and then Eliota FumaonoSapolu, once of Bath and Gloucester, and no stranger to controversy, piled in arguing that there was indeed racial bias against the Islanders. Quite a few people commented in similar terms, among them Ryan Lamb who tweeted that he felt it was a fair tackle, but that he’s seen plenty of Islanders slapped with cards and bans for similar things.
The whole situation is just getting daft, with noone really knowing where they stand, but I’m sure it’s going to be all right, as World Rugby have held a meeting of coaches and referees to discuss yet again the issue of foul play, and you’ll be relieved to know that they’re going to be vigilant!
In the Farrell incident it was good to see the ref and the TMO working in harmony, and it was another strong argument for the TMO’s powers to be enhanced rather than diminished as some would like. This weekend sees the start of a trial that just does that, limits the powers of the TMO in a number of ways, including stopping on-the-run chats between the ref and officials – let’s hope that it becomes clear during the international window that this is a backward step, and that soon common sense will prevail.
Eddie Jones, a great man for a quote, suggested that eventually rugby will need two referees, just as some Rugby League does in Australia! Good luck with that one – goodness knows what the players will get up to while the refs are arguing about which one is the sole arbiter! Just give the ref, his assistants, and the TMO, a free hand to work together, use the technology to its full extent, and help us get the right result in matches – that’s what really matters.
It’s hard to imagine a better example of that than Friday’s televised Premiership Cup match between Gloucester and Northampton. In a dismal encounter played in horrendous conditions, with time up on the clock and the visitors 12-7 ahead, the ref said the ball had been held up when Gloucester thought they’d scored. He rejected their appeals for it to be reviewed, and said that it was his decision – exactly what World Rugby want referees to do.
That’s all well and good if the ref has got it right, but in this case he hadn’t. The TMO finally intervened and told him he needed to watch the bigscreen replay, which clearly showed the try to have been scored. Now, this was only the Premiership Cup, but we were a hair’s breadth away from the wrong team ‘winning’ yet another game.
Well done Eddie Jones for his comments on the unfair and anachronistic haka. He said he wouldn’t be paying much attention to it, and that it was as important as a Spice Girls’ concert. Predictably the sanctimonious All Blacks sprang to the haka’s defence with Kieran Read being honest when he said that although it’s meant as a challenge, it’s more about them connecting as a team.
If that’s what the haka is all about, let them do it in the changing rooms before they come out – the game would be better without it. It won’t happen, but there should be a campaign to get World Rugby to ban it ahead of the RWC.