Refs blowing up a storm
None of us are authorities on rugby’s laws.
More often than not when the whistle blows, we’re likely to have no idea why. We just know that someone, amid that pile of bodies, must have infringed more obviously than the bloke from the other team.
Knock-ons and forward passes are about all we’re left with and, as a result, you tend to fixate on the ones the refs get wrong.
Off the very top of my head, I can think of Damian McKenzie and Seta Tamanivalu passes, in Saturday’s Chiefs v Crusaders game, that were miles forward and not called.
Equally, Highlanders first five-eighth Lima Sopoaga threw what appeared to be a perfectly legitimate inside ball to Rob Thompson, in their win over the Hurricanes, that was called forward.
Minor, sure, but this is why people and players get so wound up about referees, assistant referees and Television Match Officials.
They’re happy to find obscure reasons to rule out tries and all seem to pipe up about ‘‘neck rolls’’ and the like. Hurricanes flanker Ardie Savea cost team-mate Vince Aso a try, earlier this season, thanks to something called a ‘‘shoulder roll’’.
No-one had ever seen or heard of one before but a TMO spotted one from the grandstand and the try was ruled out. And yet they seem blind to the forward pass McKenzie threw for Sean Wainui to score on Saturday night.
Get the simple, obvious things right and people are likely to cut you some slack, when it comes to incidents such as that involving Liam Squire and Julian Savea on Friday.
It took seven minutes for referee Ben O’Keeffe to determine Squire had done something and should get a yellow card. Savea had done something too but no-one could tell what, so the right wing had to be content with knowing his foul play, whatever it was, cost a try to team-mate Jordie Barrett.
Instead of potentially leading 14-3 at halftime, the Hurricanes eventually went to the sheds 8-7 in arrears. By then the players were reffing the game at Forsyth Barr Stadium, or damn near. They’d pegged O’Keeffe as indecisive and began bombarding him with advice. They’d also
OPINION:
grown very weary of each other, leading to unnecessary levels of niggle. But a lot of that starts with a call such as the Sopoaga forward pass. Guys get toey, the opposition chirps at them and the referee very quickly loses control of things.
The Crusaders deserve great credit for their 34-20 win over the Chiefs. Already down Sam Whitelock, Ryan Crotty and Tim Perry, the defending champs then had to do without Jack Goodhue and Jordan Taufua.
Their patterns are just so well honed and they’re such a selfless side that they never seem to falter. It’s something everyone should be aspiring to.