Time to lay off the referees – Hansen
NEW Zealand coach Steve Hansen has called on teams to lay off the World Cup’s under-fire officials.
Since Wales beat the Wallabies on Sunday the Australian media and former players have repeatedly raged against the perceived injustice of their defeat and slammed referee Romain Poite.
Many have been furious with the penalty against Samu Kerevi and claimed that Gareth Davies was offside when he intercepted Will Genia’s pass.
But while the Wallabies are refusing to let criticism of Poite die down, their Southern Hemisphere rivals the All Blacks are taking a very different stance.
Speaking at the hotel in Beppu ahead of Wednesday’s game with Canada, former Wales coach Hansen called on the media not to ask him about the issue. He claimed that even discussing it will just add to the pressure and spotlight on the referees.
He said: “I talked before we came to this tournament about how pressure can affect rugby teams that are under pressure and referees are no different.
“So there’s no point everybody climbing into them because it’s not going to do anything other than put them under more pressure and it’s not going to fix the problem.”
His comments come after Kerevi himself claimed there was a risk of the game going “soft” and Australia boss Michael Cheika added: “As a rugby player, as a former player, I am embarrassed about that. I don’t know the rules anymore.”
The incident was just as contentious on social media with many thinking the ref had got it spot on.
Sunday’s match was the latest to cause controversy, following on from Australian Reece Hodge’s three game ban for a dangerous tackle against Fiji. Two Samoan players have also been banned retrospectively in the tournament, while two players have been sent off during matches and England’s Piers Francis was cited but later cleared.
Warren Gatland shared similar views to Hansen following yesterday’s match, saying: “There has been a lot of criticism of referees and I don’t want to get involved in that.”
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