Golden Era

During the Six Nations BBC Wales gets very excited, blowing buckets of cash on entertaining trailers but also documentaries about rugby and players. This year they have an excellent series recalling classic Welsh games, I have just watched two games from the Golden Era, England v Wales 1976 and Ireland v Wales 1978.

I must have watches clips of these games many times before, but never from the perspective of a referee. I am sure we would all see a big difference compared to the modern game but it struck me that the referee played a much reduced part of the game. 

Scrums

As soon as the knock on was given, the players formed the scrum and jostled until the ball was in then drove, often the scrum-half was casually walking around with the ball before throwing it in. Ball not straight and foot up seemed to be the only thing the referee was worried about. Slipping binding, front row standing up and arm binding and turning in were completely ignored. More staggering was during the England game, the were two scrums on the England 5m line were Wales whipped the scrum around and scored from the resulting confusion. 

Rucks

Practically every forward from both sides is involved in each ruck, there is no policing of players staying on their feet and we all know what happened to players lying on the wrong side. Players handling the ball on the floor and holding the ball to slow down release seemed to happen in front of the referee with impunity. 

Mauls

Again, every maul seemed to attract every forward, there did seem to be a very loose interpretation of coming in from the side and obstruction (truck and trailer) wasn't policed. Mauls where dynamic and the ball appeared very quickly, perhaps because the lack of penalties in this area of the game, teams were less interested in grinding out a penalty and would use the ball to run with. 

Open play

There seemed to be a lot more space, because the forwards are tied up in the rucks and mauls (also tackling was a good deal more optional), there also seemed to be no sanction for blocking runners. 

There is no question that the rugby was exciting, hard fought and ultimately entertaining but it does open the debate as to whether all the changes in Laws of the Game have been for the best? More penalties from referees to stop player cheating perhaps have teams forcing the penalty rather than playing positive rugby. If the scrum is such a cauldron of  conflict where its so difficult to know the truth, ignoring it as they seemed to do in the 70s meant players got on with competing for the ball rather than screwing penalties out of the opposition. How we square that with safety is another matter.  

Watch the game here and look out for the Wales v France classic game, my guess would be Paris 1975 and Graham Price length of the field try.

England v Wales 1976

More on that Tackle

Much will continue to be said about Warburton red but you have to split the argument in to two parts.

a) Referee were instructed to red card tackles were the players legs are lifted above the horizontal and the player driven or dropped to the ground so that the head/shoulders make contact first.

b) Do players/coaches/spectators/referees things this is acceptable behaviour on the field and what should the sanction be?

Analysis

a) The Warburton tackle ticked all the boxes for that to be a red in the eyes of the referee. The way a referee will judge at a tip tackle is start with a red and work back. Dropping because he realised it was a tip is not a defence. Making some effort to control the player coming to ground is, and that is what Stephen Jones looks to do. Players cannot always control the outcome of where a players body goes in a tackle, but they must try to tackle in a manner which is safe and when it goes wrong control the tackled player to minimise injury.

The video images of Stephen Jones tackle are pretty poor, the referee is just about right given he is judging it in real time without slo-mo replays.

b) A bit of rough and tumble is all very good until someone gets turn, its a valid for grown ups as it was in the school yard. The referee is ultimately responsible for player safety and there must be a suitable sanction to dissuade players from dangerous play. The negative consequences of this are there for us all to see in that semi-final. If you are going to take away red cards for this then what else and how are you going to protect referees that are not able to punish it adequately? Saying that dumps are different to spears brings in more subjectivity that opens up the ref to further criticism. The focus, presently, is what is dangerous? Landing on your head/neck from a height is. How do we discourage it? Red card.

For anyone who thinks it isn't dangerous, please read this.
http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/article/641866

That tackle and the Red Card

As a referee, London Welsh wasn’t a happy place to be last Saturday, well most Saturdays actually. There can be no better place to watch a Wales international short of the the Millennium Stadium itself but as I saw the circumstances of the Warburton tackle I realised I would be justifying the action the referee for the rest of the day. My conversation with the Welsh RFU panel touch judge for the home game was the one exception.

My first instinct on seeing the replay was “oh dear, he is going to get cited and banned for the Final”, a yellow card was inevitable. It was a surprise that Rolland issued the red, not from the action of Warburton but on what referees typically do under such circumstances. A yellow and a retrospective ban is the form and is something we have seen 3-4 times in the RWC, but I’ve seen an Aussie red carded in 3N match for the same thing. The argument of consistency has been made and is a valid one but needs to be applied to the action of the other referees in the tournament. The resultant bans for player show that red cards should have issued at the time.

The IRB in their infinite wisdom has decided that the ‘tip tackle’ is supremely dangerous. It is covered by this;

Law 10.4(j) reads: Lifting a player from the ground and dropping or driving that player into the ground whilst that player’s feet are still off the ground such that the player’s head and/or upper body come into contact with the ground is dangerous play

The upshot is that if you take the player up, you bring him down safely; you do not drive him down (the extreme Melamu/O’Driscoll example), you do not think, “bugger I’ve tipped him I better let go of him now” (as Warbuton did) but you control how you bring him down (as Henson did to Matt Tait in 2005). Intent does not come into it, terrible things happen by accident and we must take the consequences.

What differentiates the referee’s actions on Saturday was he didn’t bottle the decision, he saw what he saw and knew how the IRB had directed him to act and he went to his pocket. The only mistake he made was not consulting his assistant referees, I doubt the outcome would be different but it would have bought himself time to make it clear in his mind and shared the responsibility for call.

Imagine a conversation like this.

REF, “this is what I saw, red 7 lifts blue of the ground and through the horizontal and drops him, he fails to bring him to ground in a safe manner, a dangerous tackle. Do you have anything to add?”

AR1 “nothing to add, it was a dangerous tackle,”

REF, “I am going to award a penalty and issue a red card to red 7”

AR1 “agreed”

The whole world knows what the Ref is thinking, the Ref has a few extra seconds to think about the consequences of what he is doing and he gets the moral support from the touch line. If the AR disagrees him, he will not contradict the Ref, there are code words used, if he thinks otherwise then he could have replied, “ nothing to add, it was a reckless tackle.” Reckless verses dangerous tackle communicated a suggested downgrade to yellow but the referee still has the option to keep it red.

The first responsibility of the referee in any game is the safety of the player and with high momentum impacts between flesh, bone and earth there is a lot that can go wrong. As players and spectators we all love the “ooff” factor of a big hit is exciting and part of the psychological ascendancy that a team looks to establish, however, we all want players to walk off the field. “Dominate do not destroy” is part of my front row talk and it applies to all players, who must have a responsibility to fellow players for their safety.

Much of the criticism of Alain Rolland has been that he has ruined the tournament, Wales were a better team than France and almost certainly would have won with 15 men, thus making a much more competitive final. However, the referee is tasked with managing that game, nothing more. He must make it safe, he must make it fair and he must must punish dangerous play within the parameters he has been given. What ever the consequences for Wales, Alain Rolland full-filled this function and throughout the rest of the game I found him to fair and consistent. Wales did enough to win that match, a little better luck with kicks and we would have still be looking forward to a Final on Sunday.

The broader topic must be how we want the game to be managed by the IRB. Many of the same people saying the red card spoilt the game and the tournament were bellowing for Mealamu to have been red carded for the O’Driscoll tackle. As fans we must be consistent, if we accept that red cards are to be a part of the game we can not apply them selectively. Perhaps red cards should only be used for a foul play; punching, gouging, head butts, ‘genuine’ spear tackles? The latter will keep the debate open on where the line should be drawn.

World Cup Thoughts

Its a policy of this blog not to comment on the performance of top referees, no matter how bad they appear to be, they still know more about this game than me.

The big controversy in week one is the Hook penalty that TV cameras showed going between the posts. As a Welshman I would love it to have made it, but I doubt very much if it did. You can’t see it cross in front of the right post, it probably past outside and above the post. The two assistants referees were the best placed to judge and they seemed in no doubt as to if it made it. One dimensional TV pictures don’t tell the full story. I am sure it was Barnesy that referred to the TMO for a drop goal, a couple of years back. He knows it is available and he was happy to trust his view point and his ARs.

Courtney Laws was banned for two games for dropping a knee on an Argentine prop. Personally, I thought he deserved a card for the late tackle on the Argy no12 who left the field as a consequence. Rugby is a rough game but players have a duty of care to fellow players, Laws was at best reckless and that, in itself, deserves sanction. A two game ban is well below the threshold for kneeing an opponent. 

Will Irish Vintage outdo Welsh Whine?

Well said that man!!

BBC - 606 - - A48768772 - Will Irish Vintage outdo Welsh Whine?:
"I would imagine the team talk will be brief, along the lines of
'Are you gonna let these ******* *********** come to our house and take our ******* title?'

In Gat we trust!"

Yellow Peril

Watching the France v Wales in the chasten comfort of my own home rather than the London Welsh club house afforded me the luxury of listening (more soberly) to the commentary. It becomes clear that, whilst Jonathan Davies is unmatched in his tactical analysis, his technical appreciation of the laws is some way behind. Austin Healey on the other hand, may be a folically challenged, scouse motor-mouth, he was spot on in calling the French disallowed try.
The French had driven the ball up to the Welsh line, the ball was picked up off the floor by Harinordoquy who was at best bound to the ruck, but to me, looked to be supported by his shoulder on the body of a player on the ground. The TMO gives the offence as handling in the ruck, he could have chosen playing the ball off his feet. Either way, a lucky escape for Wales – that time!
Jonathan Davies’ called for a yellow card on Shanklin’s aerial contact with Harinordoquy, this was certainly dangerous and illegal but I am less certain it justified a yellow. The TV commentariat seem to believe there are certain offences which automatically warrant a yellow. Some are certainly more likely to result in at least a yellow (punching, stamping) but the referee always has discretion. This will determined by the temperament of the game, the general penalty count and how dangerous/stupid the tackle/action (and if the miscreant is English??). Shanklin is clearly going for the ball and then pulls out, his arm is trailing (I suspect deliberately) but it make contact high on Harinordoquy's body unbalancing him, but it is not as dangerous as taking out his legs or enveloping a player in the air.




I do like the aerial camera during scrums, it’s a view that isn’t available in real life and it certain picked up the French front row pulling the scrum sideways for the wheel. Sadly, it wasn’t as obvious at the ground-level angle for the referee.
England’s penalty count on Saturday at 18 verses Ireland’s 9 was double most other teams’ count for the weekend’s internationals. When the referee encounters that level of indiscipline he will go for the card sooner not later.

England hit out over refereeing concerns

England hit out over refereeing concerns - The Independent

The simple answer to this question is that teams under pressure cheat. England's only answer against Wales was to slow down the ball and this is always going to be borderline, with International referees you are going to get less time than with me. This year we have been asked to police the breakdown to the letter of the law, this means you can not protect your ball by sealing it off by going to ground over the ball. Much of the latitude players may have got in the past, off or on the feet has been removed.
From watching the Wales game, a couple of times, I think the yellows were spot on, Tindall was a tad unlucky, he was on his feet when he started to play it but went off as he played it back. Goode was banged to rights, I think he was lucky that it wasn't a penalty try (but then I am Welsh). If Wales had quick ball there then they were in, no doubt.
The next point I want to make is communication, referees will talk to captains and let them know that the penalty count is mounting and something needs to be done. One the field Borthwick looks like a petulant child and the behaviour of the off-field management does nothing to dispel the view that camp is behaving in a similar manner. Other teams are obviously be better at influencing referees, many would consider it one of the arts of being captain, ask Sean Fitzpatrick. If you don't like how you being refereed, work with him to give him the game he is trying to give you. Don't sulk like Borthwick.

John Wells is a cheat

Finally, rather than complain about other coaching teams 'getting' to referees, ask yourself why international referees approach England with a jaundice eye?

Laid Up

Apologies for the light blogging but I'm injured at present. A torn cartilage in my ankle. In the mean time I shall be watching Wales take on the All Blacks with this image in my mind.