In 2007 I was the referee of the World Cup quarter-final between France and New Zealand. Between myself and the officials I was in charge of, we missed the forward pass from Damien Traille to Frédéric Michalak for the match-winning try. Chris White, the television match official, knew that the ball had gone forward but he couldn’t intervene. At that time, you could only turn to the TMO for the grounding of the ball. That meant Chris had to sit there, inert, and accept the decision. But New Zealand were knocked out, and the forward pass is central to many people’s memories of that match.
As a referee and as a rugby fan, that’s the last thing I want.
I was criticised heavily for that decision; but at that time, we had one look at it in real speed and that was it. I was less experienced then but even now, several times a game, I see something on screen and realise I’ve made an incorrect decision and so I say to the players: “I’m sorry, I didn’t see it like that.” Thankfully, for the games and decisions that matter most, the TMO is there and they now have a much wider remit. For all the suggestions of overreliance on the TMO last week we have to accept that safety net as progress.
Think back to the 2011 World Cup semi-final, France against Wales. Sam Warburton was shown a red card for a tip-tackle. Alain Rolland, the referee, got one look at it — in real speed — and had to make a match-altering decision because at that point, you couldn’t use the TMO to review foul play.
Or in 2013, when Manu Tuilagi punched Chris Ashton off the ball in the Premiership semi-final; it was a big hit, which the assistant referee only half-saw. He recommended a yellow card for both because they were both involved. Dave Pearson, the TMO, couldn’t intervene.
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Scotland were heartbroken in 2015 when a penalty was awarded against Jon Welsh; a penalty that cost them a place in the World Cup semi-finals. At first glance, Welsh looked offside; on rewatching, it clearly came off an Australian player and did not warrant a penalty. Scotland were incensed with the referee — there was even a petition to ban him from Scotland! — but the point is, he didn’t have a back-up. At that point, he could have referred the decision to the TMO only in the build-up to a try. So again, you have to accept that the present state of affairs represents progress.
Though we try to, it is impossible to get every decision right. In an average game, there are more than 200 breakdowns, 25 lineouts and a dozen scrums, meaning I have to make hundreds of decisions and non-decisions each match, with players running in front of me, the ball being passed behind me and kicked 50 metres away from me. But we should always strive to get the big ones right. Euro 2020 was a fine template for that. Uefa was roundly applauded for its use of VAR. When the magnitude was greatest, VAR stepped in and the correct decision was reached. Otherwise, the match flowed.
Now rugby has more grey than football. So for this to work, everyone has a role to play — fans, players, pundits, journalists, referees. There needs to be an acceptance that no match will be perfect, allow that there will be a knock-on missed, a marginal offside unseen, but that when the stakes are highest, the TMO will help to reach the correct decision. Then we can strike the right balance between flow and fairness, instinct and intervention. But if we expect perfection for every call, however small, then expect more stoppages.
There have been numerous recent comments about the TMO interrupting the flow of a game and we know, as match officials, that we play an important role in getting a game to flow and adding momentum to it. First, a referral to the TMO should occur in the background as far as possible. Ideally, if I see something that I am doubtful over, I can ask the TMO: “Should I be checking that?”, and we will check it only if necessary.
Then there is the issue of chivvying players along. Let’s take the drawn-out process of getting blockers in before a box-kick; the referee should call “use it” as soon as the contest for possession is over, giving the scrum half five seconds to play. And when players huddle up before a lineout, we should reiterate that they must make their calls on their way to the line of touch, to keep the game moving.
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So too at the scrum, where referees can be more efficient at a reset — particularly important today, given the pitch at Cape Town, which tore up badly in the second Test.
The scrum is also an area that demonstrates the strict limits to referees’ powers. I always say to a captain before the match that if a player is down and it is neither serious nor affecting a restart, I will ask for the game to carry on. And yet, if there is a scrum about to take place and one of the props is down injured, no referee should or would tell that player to get up and pack down to speed up a game. Their safety has to be paramount. If observers, coaches and fans think that people are abusing that priority, then it is a game-wide issue, not one to be solved by a single referee on the field of play.
That was exemplified in the match between France and Wales in the 2017 Six Nations, which stretched to 100 minutes. I was the referee for that game. There was the suggestion that Uini Atonio had faked a head injury to get Rabah Slimani back on to the field to give them an advantage. But in my position, there was only one thing to do — if a doctor tells me that the prop needs an HIA, he goes off for an HIA.
All of this adds to the time on the clock, but sometimes, a referee’s hands are tied.
