Rennie right to point out error
Chiefs fans might not want to hear it but television match official Vinny Munro’s atrocious late call did not directly cost the Chiefs victory against the Hurricanes.
When it comes to New Zealand rugby, provincial and Super Rugby, allegiances tend to taint people’s judgment.
Hurricanes fans need to accept Ma’a Nonu did lose the ball going for the tryline and was lucky referee Glen Jackson played such a short advantage when he got his intercept. Chiefs fans need to accept that even if Munro got things right, it would not have guaranteed they would win.
First, there should be no debate about whether Munro was right or wrong when he told Jackson to award a scrum to the Hurricanes after checking the legality or otherwise of Augustine Pulu’s late try at Westpac Stadium. Munro was blatantly wrong. Hurricanes prop Chris Eves clearly played the ball on the ground. He deliberately pushed the ball out of Chiefs openside Sam Cane’s hands. How Munro did not see that, or feel compelled to point it out to Jackson, is a mystery.
That is because there was and has been no explanation from the officials. We do not know specifically what Jackson asked his TMO to rule on.
What is clear is the ball went forward from Cane’s hands before it was cleared from the ruck.
Based on those facts, the correct call from Munro would have been to award a penalty to the Chiefs, and arguably to send Eves to the sin bin for a cynical foul.
Let us remember those actions would not have changed the score at the time.
The Chiefs would have still needed to score a try to win.
On another note, it is wrong to label Chiefs coach Dave Rennie as a sore loser for his post-match comments. They were not delivered by a bitter man but rather one frustrated that the system keeps failing.
He did not call for Pulu’s try to stand. He simply wondered how the Hurricanes player had not been penalised.
Perhaps Rennie was casting his mind back to TMO Mike Fraser awarding Dane Coles a try in the corresponding match in 2012 when nobody else could see any evidence of a grounding. That decision cost the Chiefs a home playoff and the latest one could do the same.
For the record, the Chiefs effort at Westpac Stadium was nothing short of phenomenal.
They overcame a horror run of injuries to push the competition leaders to the brink on their home ground. But to suggest one horrible call after 80 minutes decided the match is a stretch.
The Chiefs will hold themselves accountable for 17 turnovers, 14 penalties, a yellow card and an inability to execute the crucial last pass rather than dwelling on one call.
One wonders if Munro will be held accountable but that is likely to remain as big a mystery as to whether a correct call would have changed the result.