TMOs get red card for northern tour
The power of rugby’s TMOs have been reined in significantly as World Rugby seeks to put the control of the game back in the hands of the referee.
The game’s governing body has announced a series of changes to how the game will be officiated for the November tests, with the contentious ‘on the run’ chat between the match officials and TMO for foul play to be removed and the onus put on the referee to make on-field decisions for tries.
The constant dialogue between TMOs and match officials blighted parts of this year’s Super Rugby tournament, leading to frustration from coaches such as Tony Brown (Sunwolves) and Brad Thorn (Reds) after their teams received controversial yellow cards.
All Blacks assistant coach Ian Foster, as well as officials Ben Skeen and Lyndon Bray, were part of the World Rugby ‘working group’ that approved the changes, which should reduce the stop-start nature of some of the games seen in Super Rugby.
Interestingly, Australian referee Angus Gardiner, who sent off Frenchman Benjamin Fall against the All Blacks in June, was also in the group.
‘‘In reviewing the current global protocol alongside the Super Rugby protocol, the group agreed that for this trial we should place greater emphasis on on-field decision-making, with the TMO role limited to try-scoring and serious foul play, while also removing the ‘onthe-run’ conversations between the TMO and team of three match officials,’’ World Rugby council member and rugby committee chairman John Jeffrey said.
There has already been a different approach to officiating in the latter stages of Super Rugby and the Rugby Championship. Yellow cards have fallen sharply in this year’s Rugby Championship, with only four handed out so far, with no red cards.
Referees have also been reluctant to dish out yellow cards for foul play. All four yellows cards produced so far have been for slowing the ball down close to the tryline or repeat team offences.
While TMOs can be used by the referee during the game to review incidents, the new protocol states that TMOs referrals should only be used when there ‘‘are clear and obvious serious acts of foul play, including penalty kick, yellow card or red card as a potential sanction in order to protect player welfare’’.