Oghre incident proves refs can make mistakes
Northampton Saints got a losing bonus point away at Wasps last weekend, but there was a somewhat bizarre incident involving referee Craig Maxwell-Keys.
Everyone accepts referees make mistakes, generally when they miss something, but in this instance it appeared as though the ref decided to vary from the protocol they all apply.
Wasps’ Gabriel Oghre committed a high tackle on Saints’ scrum-half Alex Mitchell, who was unhurt and carried on playing. The TMO drew the incident to Maxwell-Keys’ attention, and most people assumed a red card was coming. However, having reviewed matters, it all got a bit odd. The ref appeared to say that while it involved direct contact with the head, with quite a bit of force, and there was no obvious mitigation, he thought yellow was enough.
The citing officer disagreed, and at the hearing Oghre accepted he got his positioning and execution wrong, resulting in the panel saying his admission demonstrated that the ref ’s decision to award a yellow card was the wrong one! He
received a three-week ban.
What was worrying was the subjective nature of the ref ’s decision: surely the point of the framework is that the officials go through it step by step, and it leads them to a conclusion – the TMO saw it that way. If a referee is going to follow the framework, but then decide that he doesn’t like the conclusion, we’ve got problems.
No one wants to see officials hung out to dry, but clear mistakes must be addressed and it’s good that in this case they were. Did it affect the result? Who knows, but for the final ten
minutes Wasps had 15 men on the pitch rather than 14, and the final margin was only six points.
From the moment the original complaints were made against Exeter Chiefs’ use of Native American imagery, and some of their fans’ use of faux head-dresses, it seemed obvious to me that this could only end in one way, which was the club changing its branding.
That’s because the objectors were never going to give up, and the more the club dug in its heels, the more determined they
would be to continue the fight.
Last week Wasps upped the ante. They said they’d been asked by a supporters’ group to consider what their attitude to faux headdresses should be, but found that the question fell into the ‘too hard’ category. As a result, they decided to ask the RFU and PRL to try to come to a Premiershipwide view. Some saw this as passing the buck, but surely it would be better for everyone if there was a consensus view?
However, it’s hard to imagine the RFU’s diversity and inclusion group can do much other than support anything that’s seen as a move for greater diversity and inclusiveness!
Rob Baxter was asked about this, and he decided to play the straightest of straight bats, declaring: “They (RFU) have said they’re not doing anything about it, so I don’t think there’s anything for us to comment on.”
I can imagine heels were dug even further in as soon as his words were published. People aren’t going to stop asking the questions of Baxter and Tony Rowe, and trying to bat it away will only make things worse.
Baxter also said ‘most people’s’ view was that after all the country has been through there were more important things to focus on. I suspect he has no real idea of what most people’s view is, and it’s daft to make these things binary – yes, there are much more important things going on, but that doesn’t mean this one isn’t important to a number of people.
The questions are going to keep coming, and I can’t see any other end than the club having to give in. I think they should do so promptly, because then they can focus on rugby rather than trying to defend a position that a number of supporters find untenable.