will see the referee restored to the sole arbiter of law
http://www.planetrugby.com/story/0,25883,3943_5868505,00.html#
Monday, 18 January 2010
Referees to get TVs
Sounds like a good move to me. It will save a great deal of confusion an
will see the referee restored to the sole arbiter of law
will see the referee restored to the sole arbiter of law
Back after a Long Break
The combination of Autumn Internationals, man flu, Christmas and the weather have contrived to keep me off the park for over two months. Sunday saw me return to action in a U17 game which was a top of the table clash.
The home side were dominant, but managed to give the oppo two first half interception tries. They fought back to win 18-14 despite the referee blowing up 8 1/2 minutes early and needing to restart the game.
It wasn't my best day, the lay-off took its toll as did the mince pies. I wasn't sharp enough and my fitness was below where it needed to be for the speed of the game. Still and enjoyable contest.
The home side were dominant, but managed to give the oppo two first half interception tries. They fought back to win 18-14 despite the referee blowing up 8 1/2 minutes early and needing to restart the game.
It wasn't my best day, the lay-off took its toll as did the mince pies. I wasn't sharp enough and my fitness was below where it needed to be for the speed of the game. Still and enjoyable contest.
Monday, 30 November 2009
Friday, 6 November 2009
Holy Trinity
Last night the Society hosted three of the iRB panel referees, Wayne Barnes, Stu Dickinson (or Dicko, aparently) and Bryce Lawerence. There was an informanal Q&A session and some predicable ribbing about Cueto's non-try in RWC07 (Dicko was the TMO) and the scrum in the 1st Lions Test (Bryce was the Ref).
The most interesting point to come out of it came when the three were asked about crooked feeds at scrums. Barnes said that if every other safety-related issue was in hand, then he would look for crooked feeds. Bryce agreed but astonishingly, admitted that prior to the ANZ Cup season the referees agreed between themselves not to referee feeds.
Bryce showed some humour when asked how he thought England would play he said that he'd been reading the English press and Jonny was going to win it for them and if he didn't it would Bryce's fault. Perceptive man. Our session last night also included a scrumaging presentation, so I hope that helped.
The three were also asked what rule changes they would like to see.
Dicko said he would like to see no points for a drop goal
Bryce said he would like collapsing the maul back
and Barnes said he would like referee replacements!
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Bombay Mix
For most of us rugby and India only mixed at 10.30 on a Saturday night after 10 pints but a recent Society meeting saw a couple of referees from the subcontinent talk to us on the Game in their part of the world. The London Society has undertaken an exchange with India as part of the generous sponsorship from Standard Chartered Bank. I was surprised to hear that two of the oldest clubs in world rugby are Bombay Gymkhana and Calcutta (of the Cup fame). Despite Britain’s long residence in the country the locals failed to take up the game to the same degree as the rest of the colonies; preferring, to whoop us at cricket instead.
These days, the iRB are leading the development of the game and the Commonwealth Games in Delhi in 2011 is proving some development focus as well as much needed pitches. There are only two pitches in the country during the monsoon season! Since 2001 players numbers in Indian have risen from 1,500 to over 17,000 as development of the game has focused on armed forces and the police as well as youth.
These days, the iRB are leading the development of the game and the Commonwealth Games in Delhi in 2011 is proving some development focus as well as much needed pitches. There are only two pitches in the country during the monsoon season! Since 2001 players numbers in Indian have risen from 1,500 to over 17,000 as development of the game has focused on armed forces and the police as well as youth.
Referee development is more difficult, there are very few in the country and they suffer from having on a small number of games, typically 4-5 per year. Then there are distances involved with limited expenses to cover travel and with only one assessor to cover the entire country getting help for improvement is a slow process. The two referees who came to London were found 4 games each, both youth and senior and were assessed at each. There thoughts are that with adequate support from Standard Chartered this type of exchange can continue in Indian and other developing rugby nations.
A final story, the corresponding London referee who visited India was given a match between Uzbekistan and the Bombay Police. It was all going well with the large crowd enjoying the game. Unfortunately a high tackle by the Uzbeks provoke ire amongst the crowd and 150 plastic chair welding spectators invaded the pitch and began attacking players and each other!
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Wednesday, 28 October 2009
Holy Trinity
An exciting prospect for next week's referee training is that it will feature three top international referees giving us the benefit of their wisdom. Our own Wayne Barnes will be joined by Bryce Lawrence and Stuart Dickinson. The latter two will, no doubt, be keen to pick up tips on refereeing the scrummage from the lively JP Doyle (one to watch) .
Monday, 26 October 2009
3 Yellows and a flying Prop
With the words of last week’s assessor still fresh in my ears it was off to the Surrey countryside for a local derby in the merit league, a scrappy game full of incident was to follow. The home side (Blue) looked to be mix of youth and experience whilst the visitors (Black) seemed well loaded with experience. The pitch at this club has a significant end to end slope and this is a key factor in choosing sides at kick off. Use the early advantage or take the easier option for tired legs in the second half. Black choose the early advantage. This didn’t work out so well with an early, fast paced try for Blue. This seemed to wake-up Black who used their considerable forward advantage to dominate field position and possession.
Black’s mix of oldies looked to bully Blue early on and I warned them to calm thinks down. Minutes later as a promising move came to end just short of the Blue goal line, Black 16 had words with a Blue player before open-handedly slapping him. The ensuing yellow card was met with protests that it was only a slap, yes it was, if it had been a punch then it would be have been red. From scrumaging under the posts, Black were marched down the field. At 15 minutes in, it was certainly my earliest yellow card and the assessor’s advice did result in taming Black’s temper.
Another Black move came to end 3m out as a Blue player goes down over the ball, killing it. Again a yellow card but no penalty try as Black didn’t look to be certain to score. However, they did from the penalty and turned around 12-10 up, not a great advantage since they would be playing up hill in the second period.
The lack of position and procession had seen a big penalty count against Blue and the captain was warned to keep discipline in the second half but their new strategy was to use the slope and speed of their young backs to keep the old fellas in Black away from the ball. This worked with two early tries which put the game beyond Black. A bizarre aspect of Black’s play was the number of accidental off-sides from ruck and maul. I say accidental but there is a case for obstruction and a penalty, but I judged that the forward players were just too lazy to retire properly. They found this very frustrating but I offered the penalty interpretation and that quietened the complaints. There was to be a third yellow card as a Black winger, chipped through, the Blue defender, jumped to charge it down but deliberately landed in a way to trip the attacking player. The captain had been warned that the penalty count was high and that was reckless play.
The scrumage in this game was a tough one to control. The wizened operators of Black verses the bulk and youth of Blue. The first half, pushing down hill, Black adequately contained the Blue pack. I over heard the Black tight head complimenting his 19 year old adversary on his efforts. However, in the second half, it all started to go wrong; Blue were now pushing down the slope and Black struggles to hold the engagement hit. This resulted in a couple of free kicks for the early push and for delaying the put in. However, in the final quarter, Black’s loose head popped up repeatedly. The first penalty was against him for not taking the pressure and standing up, then against Blue for driving up and then, once again against Black at the loose head flew up in the face of an almighty shove. There is often an element of lottery in getting the call right on front row offences but I am getting more confident calling it right and going for a sanction rather than a re-set.
What did it take out of this match? It was a spirited but disappointing spectacle, there were too many penalties but try as I might they were generally clear, obvious and fair. The early and confident use of a yellow card calmed things down and got both sides focusing on the game. I cut down on the commentary to players and acted with more confidence in key game management phases and the new positioning at kick-offs, line-outs and goal kicks seemed to work well. Final score 31-12 to Blue.
Black’s mix of oldies looked to bully Blue early on and I warned them to calm thinks down. Minutes later as a promising move came to end just short of the Blue goal line, Black 16 had words with a Blue player before open-handedly slapping him. The ensuing yellow card was met with protests that it was only a slap, yes it was, if it had been a punch then it would be have been red. From scrumaging under the posts, Black were marched down the field. At 15 minutes in, it was certainly my earliest yellow card and the assessor’s advice did result in taming Black’s temper.
Another Black move came to end 3m out as a Blue player goes down over the ball, killing it. Again a yellow card but no penalty try as Black didn’t look to be certain to score. However, they did from the penalty and turned around 12-10 up, not a great advantage since they would be playing up hill in the second period.
The lack of position and procession had seen a big penalty count against Blue and the captain was warned to keep discipline in the second half but their new strategy was to use the slope and speed of their young backs to keep the old fellas in Black away from the ball. This worked with two early tries which put the game beyond Black. A bizarre aspect of Black’s play was the number of accidental off-sides from ruck and maul. I say accidental but there is a case for obstruction and a penalty, but I judged that the forward players were just too lazy to retire properly. They found this very frustrating but I offered the penalty interpretation and that quietened the complaints. There was to be a third yellow card as a Black winger, chipped through, the Blue defender, jumped to charge it down but deliberately landed in a way to trip the attacking player. The captain had been warned that the penalty count was high and that was reckless play.
The scrumage in this game was a tough one to control. The wizened operators of Black verses the bulk and youth of Blue. The first half, pushing down hill, Black adequately contained the Blue pack. I over heard the Black tight head complimenting his 19 year old adversary on his efforts. However, in the second half, it all started to go wrong; Blue were now pushing down the slope and Black struggles to hold the engagement hit. This resulted in a couple of free kicks for the early push and for delaying the put in. However, in the final quarter, Black’s loose head popped up repeatedly. The first penalty was against him for not taking the pressure and standing up, then against Blue for driving up and then, once again against Black at the loose head flew up in the face of an almighty shove. There is often an element of lottery in getting the call right on front row offences but I am getting more confident calling it right and going for a sanction rather than a re-set.
What did it take out of this match? It was a spirited but disappointing spectacle, there were too many penalties but try as I might they were generally clear, obvious and fair. The early and confident use of a yellow card calmed things down and got both sides focusing on the game. I cut down on the commentary to players and acted with more confidence in key game management phases and the new positioning at kick-offs, line-outs and goal kicks seemed to work well. Final score 31-12 to Blue.
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