Consistency is key for Henning
TAPPE Henning, the Head of Match officials for the United Rugby Championship (URC), says that while they can't just “hire and fire” referees based on performance, they apply a “remedial” approach to deal with officiating inconsistencies.
The standard of officiating has been a constant talking point for the longest time. And in the URC - where neutral officials were appointed for the batch of SA fixtures - it naturally continued.
When the SA franchises joined the competition last year, their struggle to adapt to the northern officiating was clear as day.
Now, with the Scottish, Welsh, Irish and Italian teams playing in SA under new officiating crews, it didn't take long before frustrations about the level of officiating again emerged.
Speaking during a media briefing yesterday, the 14-Test referee addressed a number of issues relating to whistle blowers.
“The standard of officiating has always been talked about. The more experienced your referee is, the more acceptable their officiating becomes.
The technology is bringing spectators more into the game, and that's good, but it brings referees under the microscope more. The information that's available to the public now is so much more, and the individual on the pitch still only has two eyes.
“We are not trying to compete with it, we are trying to do better. That information is available to everyone, and that's why referees are discussed so much.
“We look at the incident and discuss it, it's a team effort - there's a TMO, a referee and assistant referees. We don't want to blame any one person. Do we come down hard on them? Yes, we do. But it's remedial. We're not going to fire referees for every mistake because then halfway through the competition we would have no-one left. “We want to be accountable, but it's a much longer-term process, we can't just hire and fire.”
When asked why referees are so protected, as opposed to the citings and punishments players - and coaches - face for wrongdoings, Henning said: “It's a sensitive one. The referees we have in the URC are contracted by their unions. That is their job, and it becomes tricky putting out there something related to their job.
“We've got no issue addressing the rights and wrongs of a referee's call publicly, but we can't put their overall performance out to the public domain. I don't think there is any job where making an employee's work performance public would be appropriate.”
To completely eliminate any calls of bias, Henning explained that they are working on it.
“We are aiming for and looking at having the referee and TMO - not all four guys - be neutral. We have looked into the cost implications, we want to phase it in.
“It is our aim to have neutral officials (referee and TMO) for every game. For the play-offs, we will go full-on neutral.”
Henning was named in the position in December after replacing Greg Garner.
His duties include match official selection for URC fixtures, identifying new refereeing talent and leading the review process for officials in the competition.
The former Scottish Rugby Union's Referee Commissioner explained what the biggest challenge in the trans-continental competition has been until now.
“Interpretation and consistency are probably the two things coaches mention the most. The best way we can align that is to align it with World Rugby so that we don't have different interpretations, and also so that we can get better consistency on the field,” he explained.
“The biggest challenge at this stage has been the perception about different perceptions between north and south. What we managed to do was recognise it.
“If you make a decision and the team is uncomfortable with it, it doesn't always mean it's a different interpretation, it might just be a poor read from the referee.”