Hansen urges rule-change after penalty row
Coach says key call shows up problem with the laws Whitelock backs autumn ‘decider’ at Twickenham
Steve Hansen, the All Blacks head coach, has called on World Rugby to simplify the laws of game in the wake of the referee Romain Poite’s controversial downgrading of a penalty decision that denied his side the chance to win the Test series against the British and Irish Lions.
Poite’s call was widely criticised in New Zealand after the French official opted to award a scrum instead after consulting the television match official over the incident in which the Lions hooker, Ken Owens, momentarily caught the ball after Liam Williams had dropped it following a collision with Kieran Read.
New Zealand’s disappointment was magnified because they had been in control of much of the match, and scored the only two tries through Ngani Laumape and Jordie Barrett.
Hansen has previously advocated a simplification of the laws of the game and the fact that Poite’s decision could have come under consideration of three sub-clauses of the lawbook prompted the New Zealand head coach to renew those calls.
“It’s either offside or isn’t offside, and if we all know it’s offside then it’s offside,” Hansen said. “But there are too many avenues you can go down. That’s not the ref’s fault, it’s the rulebook and people running the game need to ask themselves, do we need to make it simple? My answer to that would be yes.
“Going back to the World Cup, the same thing happened, and Scotland missed out because they didn’t use the video. This time they used the video and they had a powwow.
“If they’d played on and we scored under the posts, I’d have liked that.
“His [Poite’s] initial instincts were that it was a penalty. He spoke to his team of three and one of them said it was accidental. So we can’t change that.
“If we’d scored another try ourselves there wouldn’t be this conversation.”
The All Blacks players tried their best to hide their disappointment at the conclusion of the game.
Sam Whitelock, the All Blacks second row, also held the diplomatic line.
“For us, we just had to worry about what we were doing,” Whitelock said. “You couldn’t control what other play- ers within your team or in the opposi- tion were doing. We looked after what we could control, that being yourself. It’s something where the call has been made and we can’t change it, so there’s a couple of things I’d like to go back and change in Test one and Test two, but that’s the way it is. You can’t go back and change things.”
But would he want to face the Lions in a fourth match, possibly replacing the game against the Barbarians at Twickenham in November?
“That’s obviously the first time I’ve heard of it but it would be quite interesting to see if we could have another go at it,” he added.
“I know at the moment all the players have that weird feeling, talking to some of the Lions boys afterwards they’re feeling the same too. It’s just a little bit weird coming out with a drawn series.”
All Blacks captain Kieran Read admitted it had been a frustrating end to his 100th Test.
“It’s a bit of a hollow feeling, a draw,” said Read. “We don’t turn up on a Saturday and want a draw, or to lose. We want to go out and win.
“If you look back on this series, yep, a draw is better than a loss, but right now it’s mixed feelings. I’m proud to make 100 Tests but would probably swap all of them for a win.”
As for calls for a change to the rules of the competition to ensure there would always be a winner on future Lions tours, Hansen was unequivocal. For him the drawn series was on balance the right result.
“Everyone is a bit hollow because of the last three minutes, but some really good rugby was played over three Test matches, and maybe a drawn series was fair,” Hansen added.
“We played well in the first one, they played well in the second, and we probably did enough to win it [in the third Test] but they hung in, got a couple of breaks, and had some magnificent goal-kicking.
“Rugby has always had a draw. It’s not a World Cup final, it’s a three-match series, and my own belief is probably leave it the way it is.”
‘There are too many avenues you can go down. That’s not the ref ’s fault, it’s the rule-book’