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Opinionated Rugby Commentary - by Fans for Fans
Spill what you really think about events in the rugby world.
Stormers vs Cheetahs Brawl - Referees Get It Tough 1 views
15 May 2012 by The Swede Eaters
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Scotty Donaldson looks at ways of making refereeing decisions easy. Who would be a referee given the amount of scrutiny and flak that they get? How do you think refereeing could be improved?
Check out footage of the Round 12 brawl between the Stormers and the Cheetahs, who said being a Super Rugby referee is easy?
There have been plenty of concerns about the refereeing in Super Rugby
2012 with so many results in tight matches determined by refereeing
decisions. The referee has to be on guard all the time these days,
because not only is the game of rugby faster than ever before with more
at stake including revenue from potential home rugby gatetakings, but
because of television, everyone at home is aware of your mistakes.
Rewind thirty years when there was only one camera at the game and
everyone was amateur so the game was slower with less money riding on
matches. Referees probably still made mistakes, but we didn't have the
benefit of so many cameras or angles or slow motion to point out the
referee's mistakes.
There have been knock-ons and forward passes leading to tries,
inconsistencies with suspensions for foul play and the brawl in the
Stormers vs Cheetahs match which makes it impossible to be a referee. I
think Steve Walsh ended up making the correct call with the help of
assistant Jonathan Kaplan. What can you do in that situation? You have
to be a Policeman and a judge in the one instance.
There seem to be mistakes and stuff ups in every match, but the question
remains getting the mix right between technology use and having control
over a game. This leaves you in an area where technology has had to be
restricted in use, yet it could be used in moderation for things other
than scoring tries.
It seems stupid that in theory it can't be used for something leading up
to the try like the Jason Eaton foot in touch or a forward pass, but I
think if this is seen by the Television Match Official, then it should
be brought to the attention of the referee.
Maybe they need a referral system like the cricket where captains get so many appeals.
What are the other options? It is difficult to know if having two
referees on the field at once would be a help or hindrance. This is
done in rugby league, but would they get in the way?
Because there don't seem to be the New Zealand referees coming through,
should they go futuristic and just have a television match official for
every single decision instead of an on-field presence of a referee?
This would eliminate mistakes, but could lead to on-field punch ups
between the teams with no personal presence.
I am still spitting chips over the Highlanders disallowed try to Phil
Burleigh. The corner flag is still in and the benefit of the doubt
should have gone to the attacking team as it is supposed to, right?
When you get the television commentators actually agreeing that a try
should be awarded then you have something wrong! The other issue I have
is with Jason Eaton having his feet physically on the touchline while
he still had the ball for about two seconds, yet Keith Brown didn't even
see it. Fast forward two phases later and the Hurricanes scored a try.
Who knows? These tries would have completely changed the game, but at
the same time may just have been papering over the cracks of the fading
Highlanders campaign.
You can expect the odd bad call from a referee, because there are so
many decisions to be made in a game like rugby where the rules are so
open to interpretation. The sceptics among us start wondering if there
is a conspiracy theory or hidden agenda with the likes of Bryce Lawrence
not doing himself any favours in recent years. Then you start taking
the result of any match with a pinch of salt when you realise how much
influence a referee can have on rugby results. The number of matches
that have come down to a late try or penalty goal leave you wondering if
it is worth getting upset about a narrow loss? You hope that these
things swing in roundabouts.
What do you think should be done about Super Rugby referees?
http://www.superrugbytips.com/2012/05/super-rugby-round-12-stormers-vs.html
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