Archive for rugby
Referee consistency under the microscope
Posted by: | CommentsWe’ve all heard Springbok coach Peter de Villiers’s crazy theories about some refereeing conspiracy against his team, but I disagree. From what I’ve seen so far this international season, the referees have been consistent. Consistently bad that is.
Looking at this from a slightly All Blacks centric view point, as those are the only games I’ve watched every minute of, let’s go back to the beginning of the international season where the All Blacks took on Ireland in New Plymouth. Unfortunately it’s very difficult to comment on Wayne Barnes’ performance as the game was over as a contest at the 14 minute mark when Barnes quite rightly sent off Jamie Heslop for two attempted knees to the head of an opponent.
Games where the result is in no doubt are easy from a technical refereeing stand point, decision making is not so crucial, but man management is as these games can easily descend into brawls. Barnes did a good job in this respect, but I’m reserving judgement on his overall performance due to the nature of the game.
Next came the two tests against Wales, controlled by South Africans Mark Lawrence and Jonathan Kaplan. Nothing really leaps out in my mind about these performances, so they can’t have been particularly noteworthy. I’m sure if I sat down and watched these games again I could nit pick some incidents, but it’s the overall picture I’m looking at here.
Moving on to the highlight of the international season for the Southern Hemisphere, the Tri-Nations. The 2010 edition kicked off in Auckland where the All Blacks took on the Springboks in a game controlled by Irishman Alan Lewis.
Lewis’s biggest issue in this game, aside form missing Bakkies Botha’s headbutt, was his fitness. In an up tempo game where the All Blacks ran the Boks ragged, Lewis was notably slow in the final quater of the game. Positioning is 90% of refereeing, if you’re not in position you can’t make the right decisions. Lewis often wasn’t prompting All Blacks assistant coach Wayne Smith to offer some simple advice: “Get fitter.”
A week later fellow Irishman Alain Rolland took charge as the All Blacks again faced the Springboks in Wellington. Rolland will be remembered for two incidents in that game, the first when he yellow carded Danie Rossouw for no more than a nudge with his boot on McCaw, and secondly for not yellow carding McCaw after he gave away no fewer four penalties at the breakdown.
George Clancy, another Irishman, did not exactly cover himself in glory, turning in a somewhat mediocre performance when the Boks played the Wallabies, handing out a couple of soft-ish yellow cards for ‘tip tackles’ although it is hard to hold that against referees when everyone knows this focus comes from much higher up the food chain.
The first Bledisloe Cup test between Australia and New Zealand followed on and was adequately controlled by Craig Joubert. I applauded his fortitude in showing Drew Mitchell a red card for his second yellow card offense, but on repeat viewing of Mitchell’s first offense, as reported by assistant referee Cobus Wessels, think Mitchell was a little hard done by. In the context of the game I can certainly understand Wessels’ actions, but it did detract from what could have been an excellent game.
Interesting note here, every Tri-Nations game up to this point included at least one yellow card.
Finally we come to the most recent Tri-Nations game, between New Zealand and Australia again, this time controlled by Jonathan Kaplan. Kaplan is a hands-off sort of referee, often preferring to let minor infringements slide when they have little or no impact on the game, in refereeing circles this is referred to as “material effect”. However Kaplan allowed both teams to effectively slow each other’s ball down at the breakdown, something the All Blacks were more adept at doing than the Wallabies, leading to a somewhat uneventful second half.
Perhaps Kaplan’s biggest failing was not yellow carding All Black prop Tony Woodcock for a nasty off the ball hit on Wallaby hooker Saia Faingaa. The footage of this incident should be replayed to referees at all levels with a banner reading “this is what yellow cards were invented for” flashing on the screen.
Whether IRB referee boss Paddy O’Brien will take action against Kaplan, as he did after Wessels’ performance, remains to be seen but based on past experience I doubt anything will happen. Usually when we hear about “accountability” among referees it means dropping the inexperienced guy for an error but ignoring the errors from the more established guys.
An obvious example of this was the standing down of assistant referee Josh Noonan in round one of the Super 14 this year when he mistakenly flagged the ball as being in touch when it wasn’t. While Noonan was roundly criticized for this, little was said about Stu Dickinson mistakenly awarding a fair catch when a player dropped the ball in the same round.
Now you may have noticed something of a pattern in these errors I’ve highlighted, they all seem to favour the All Blacks. Others have noticed this too and try to invent reasons for these patterns such as bias from the referees, or some global conspiracy to drum up support for the Rugby World Cup next year. To that I say: Hanlon’s Razor, the Law of Large Numbers and the 2007 Rugby World Cup quarter final.
Winners and losers from Bledisloe II
Posted by: | CommentsWith the Bledisloe Cup safe for another year after the All Blacks beat the Wallabies by 20-10 on Saturday night. A number of players reinforced their positions in their squads, while others will have some soul searching to do if they are to retain their places.
WINNERS
Richie McCaw. The All Black captain showed once again that’s he’s the best in his position, claiming a number of turnovers at the breakdown and acting as a link man when running with the ball out wide. Sure he gave away a couple of penalties but that’s in the job description for a good opensider.
David Pocock. A shining beacon in a Wallabies pack which was totally dominated, Pocock showed that he could one day be a player of Richie McCaw’s level. Pocock claimed a number of crucial turnovers at the breakdown and never gave up, toiling tirelessly up against the more powerful All Black pack.
Mils Muliaina. Some have suggested that Muliaina is too old and too slow for international rugby, but on Saturday night he proved the detractors wrong. Steady and safe at the back, as we’ve come to expect, he also sparked a number of counterattacks from the back and even picked up a try with some wonderful work down a narrow blindside.
LOSERS
Tony Woodcock. How Woodcock has escaped being cited so far for his cheap shot on Saia Faingaa is beyond me. It was cheap, it was calculated and it was exactly the kind of Bakkies Botha-like thuggery which has no place on the rugby field. Sure it wasn’t worthy of a red card, or a lengthy suspension, but when compared with Quade Cooper or Jacques Fourie’s suspensions, it does make a mockery of the citing system.
Matt Giteau. Pointing the finger at Will Genia for the Wallabies’ impotent backline is missing the true cause of their problems. Too often Genia was ready to deliver from the base of the ruck, but Giteau was either out of position or still marshalling the troops. Unlike his opposite, Giteau seems to be little threat with the ball in hand and is unable to freeze defenders like he used to. For the Wallabies, the end of Quade Cooper’s suspension cannot come quickly enough.
Richard Brown. Completely missing in action, both at the breakdown and with the ball in hand, Brown surely is not the answer for the Wallabies at 8. Even with a scrum going backwards, a number eight should be able to generate some go-forward, Brown provided none. As the Wallabies move forward to their tour of South Africa, Brown needs to either greatly improve his play or be discarded.
Does rugby need two referees?
Posted by: | CommentsAfter a lacklustre performance from Irish referee Alan Lewis, All Black coach Graham Henry has once again floated the suggestion of bringing in a second referee to help control the game. “I’ve made the suggestion a couple of times about having two refs — not at the same time, but the second ref replaces the first at an appropriate period in the game. It might be after 50-55 minutes. So you have two quality refs who can keep up with the play,” Henry said.
Now Henry’s suggestion is more sensible than having two referees controlling the game, which has been trialled, but also leads to difficulties for the referee. For a start, context is a very important part of refereeing and most times you can only get that context from being out in the middle, even if a second referee were watching the game before taking control, he would not have a full contextual understanding of everything that went on out on the field.
Of course referees need to warm up and do their own mental preparation before taking the field, which means the second referee would not be able to watch all of the game anyway. Then we most likely find ourselves in a situation where all prior warnings to players get reset, and players will try taking liberties with the laws again.
The other obvious problem with this proposal is the rapport with players, as one player from one team may get in the doghouse with the referee then gets that reset when the second referee takes the field. Referees are, of course, human and emotion does play a part in refereeing when it shouldn’t. Look at Steve Walsh vs Steven Hoilles for a good example of this.
Speaking of Walsh and his run in with Hoilles, Walsh actually said that rugby was becoming too complex for one referee and that a second was needed after that particular game. Plenty of other sports use two referees to control their game, even rugby league has successfully implemented this system, but is it right for rugby union?
One of the things that sports who use two referees need to establish is a clear separation of responsibilities. In rugby league the second, or pocket, referee watches for any illegalities in the ruck and alerts the main referee as he does not have the power to blow his whistle, while in ice hockey one referee will move down to the goal line, following the puck while the other watches for infraction away from the puck.
Can rugby do this same thing? Would one referee watch the tackle/ruck/maul area while the other ensures the defensive line remains onside? And would they both have the power to blow their whistles to award penalties?
South African university Stellenbosch, where the most recent law changes were developed, came up with and trialled a two referee system. Unfortunately it was almost universally panned by referees as being unnecessary and taking away from referee’s individual styles of controlling a game.
Mark Lawrence is one referee who trialled it and spoke against it. “Willie Roos and I did the two-referee system on an annual basis for the Ermelo High School Alumni vs Impalas. Feelings were mixed. Some players felt it inhibiting and couldn’t give their all, and so they stuck to the law! While others felt it slowed the game down. The reason was that the penalty count was higher. Occasionally, Willie and I, simultaneously, awarded penalties in opposite directions. We then awarded a scrum to the team going forward,” he said.
And here lies the crux of the problem for rugby: A referee could blow his whistle for an infringement at just about every single breakdown but often uses his judgement to decide what materially affects the game and what doesn’t. If referees disagree on this, it completely undermines their credibility.
Lawrence also disliked having his own style encroached upon by working with another referee. “For me, refereeing is a skill, encompassing man management skills, and an art to be able to judge materiality and advantage. These are lost with two referees,” he said.
Heavensgame.com also took a look at this issue, speaking to USA Rugby’s National Panel Manager Richard Every who said he was in favour of using a second referee, but then identified a coaching issue for referees which could go a long way to solving the problem.
“What happens with a lot of referees – and we noticed it a lot in the Super 14 – was that they approached the breakdown square on so their shoulders are parallel to the touchlines. They’re either looking over their shoulder at the backlines or they turn towards them and look at them but they’ve got no perspective of where the offside lines are because of their positioning.
“How I try to coach our referees is that they approach the breakdown from a 45º angle so that their shoulders are North-South meaning they’re parallel to the goal lines so that they have the whole visual perspective of the tackle and which players are coming from which direction and they’ve got a clear visual of where the gate should be at the tackle. All you have to do is stand and look up and then move away from the tackle because you’ve ensured the ball is secured and then you’re looking at the backlines.”
Finally All Black assistant coach Wayne Smith had perhaps the simplest solution for referees: “It’s just like the players – get fitter.”
The fallout from the headbutt
Posted by: | CommentsAfter yet another on-field indiscretion, Springbok lock Bakkies Botha has been suspended for the rest of the Tri-Nations for his head-butt on Jimmy Cowan. But the fallout from his actions, and his long list of previous suspensions for acts of thuggery has led to many questioning whether he has an international career left.
My own view is that a nine week ban is long enough, only because it covers the rest of the Tri-Nations, which is probably why the number was chosen. I also think that the head-butt contributed to Botha’s yellow card after 13 for a professional foul, neither the referee nor his assistants saw the head-butt but it was replayed a number of times on the big screen and they would have certainly been aware of it.
First my arch-nemesis Chris Rattue from the New Zealand Herald.
Nine weeks sounds like a long rugby ban.
In the case of Bakkies Botha it isn’t long enough.
Botha should have got a year for what he did to Jimmy Cowan at Eden Park, also taking into account his history of thuggery.
Why a year? Well, I’ve plucked that figure out of the air, but it sounds about right, and much more right than nine weeks.
And to a point, he has it right. Botha is, in many respects, a throwback to the days when players meted out justice on the field but with more than 20 cameras pointed at the game, those days are long gone.
The Press rugby writer Richard Knowler labels Botha a ‘nutter’ and chronicles his many suspensions.
This incident was the latest in a raft of nasty incidents that have blighted Botha’s career and it is not only international opponents who have felt his wrath. Crusaders fans might recall he was rubbed out of the Bulls’ Super 14 semifinal in Soweto because he had been suspended for smashing Stormers fullback Gio Aplon in a ruck cleanout.
Last year Botha copped a three-week rest for belting Waratahs skipper Phil Waugh and was later controversially banned for two weeks for a dangerous charge on British and Irish Lions prop Adam Jones. Ironically, Botha was innocent on that occasion, with even Jones stating the suspension was unwarranted. Yet many people felt it was karma catching up with him.
In late 2002, Botha announced his arrival on the international circuit by being yellow-carded for stomping in his test debut against France and the following year he received an eight-week holiday for attacking the face of Wallaby hooker Brendan Cannon.
TVNZ’s John McBeth even said before the game that he hoped Botha would not stoop to his notorious illegal play. Unfortunately he did.
I didn’t mention anything about the forward play or tactics or the like. I simply stated that I hoped Bakkies Botha would play the game cleanly and not sink to his notorious low standards of illegal play.
Sadly, Botha let himself and his team down- yet again.
The reaction in the Republic has been largely the same as here in New Zealand, why did he do it? Independent Online’s Peter Bills also asks if Botha should be selected again for the Springboks given his appalling disciplinary record.
How much longer can South Africa afford Bakkies Botha and his crass indiscipline?
How can Springbok coach Peter de Villiers keep choosing Botha when he clearly cannot rely on him to keep his discipline?
Fans over at the Time Online comments say Botha is an embarrassment to the Springboks and his actions contributed to the loss.
The final word goes to my friends over at Ruggaworld, an excellent South African rugby blog, where one of their regular commenters had this to say:
They should have banned him for 12 months…….Boks need to send him packing until he sort out his kak. Danie (Rossouw) is playing much better than him in anyway.
The reason Henry won’t pick Hosea Gear
Posted by: | CommentsThe All Blacks squad for the Tri-Nations has been picked and the big talking point within the New Zealand rugby public is the non-selection of standout winger Hosea Gear. Up and down the country people are asking what more could Gear do to get into the team and why Joe Rokocoko was selected ahead of him.
On the face of it, the decision is baffling with Gear in magnificent form for the New Zealand Maori while Rokocoko was largely anonymous for long periods of the tests against Ireland and Wales. In fact the claim by coach Graham Henry that Rokocoko was picked on form is somewhat laughable.
However, sources close to the All Black camp have revealed the reason that Gear has not been picked is his mental performance. Gear has played two tests for the All Blacks, both against Australia, and according to sources was like a “possum in the headlights” for both those games, mentally freezing on the field and unable to execute the game plan.
The continued selection and the lack of development of Isaia Toeava was also cited as a reason for Gear being left out. The All Blacks management copped a great deal of criticism over their continued faith in Toeava and view Gear as potentially having the same issues Toeava had at the top level.
Seemingly this negative publicity has impacted on their willingness to take a chance on unproven players but they are now being criticized for not taking a chance. Clearly this is why being the All Black coach is a tougher job than being Prime Minister in New Zealand.
The door is certainly not closed for Hosea Gear, but All Black management would like to give him further time to develop the mental side of his game to compliment the tremendous athletic gifts.
Much like new comers Zac Guildford and Aaron Cruden, Gear is viewed as a serious contender for a World Cup spot but is still a little underdone at the top level, and that’s why he’s been left out. No favouritism, no Auckland bias but simply a player who isn’t quite ready to make the jump to the top level of international rugby yet.
