Goneva-gate and 'a games value offence' - former ref unpacks the controversy
For much of the weekend the Gallagher Premiership’s opening headlines seemed likely to focus on big defeats for Sale and Leicester and a piece of Danny Cipriani debut magic rather than controversy.
But that will provide scant consolation to elite group referee Ian Tempest, for whom a seemingly straightforward decision 20 minutes into his seasonal opener at Kingston Park has quickly blown up into something of a storm.
As the rugby-watching world has now seen, little seemed amiss when Newcastle’s Niki Goneva fielded Saracens No.10 Owen Farrell’s failed drop goal attempt behind his own line.
However, the speedy Fijian proved as rapid in thought as deed. Having carefully positioned his body to shield Sarries’ view of the slow-moving ball, he feigned to touch down but instead brushed his boot laces with the ball prior to setting off down the right wing in a 110-metre unopposed dash to the visitors’ try-line.
Even the most ardent Fez-head would struggle to find anything in the law book which resulted in any outcome other than the award of a Newcastle try. However, to their great relief, Mr Tempest had already – erroneously – awarded a 22-metre drop out.
"I've always dreamed of doing this!"
Game value offence…
"That's nonsense!"
Ugo Monye isn't too impressed with the refs decision here 👇 pic.twitter.com/vxvqAhYedN
— Rugby on TNT Sports (@rugbyontnt) September 2, 2018
This whistle may well have accounted for Goneva’s lack of opposition, and despite his protestations a restart drop out was the only possible outcome once the referee had blown.
But after the Premiership champions went on to open their season with a bonus point success over the Falcons – aka everyone’s second favourite team – social media exploded with ‘Goneva-gate’ accusations.
And while he may opt to avoid trial by Twitter, even a spot of light reading on Mr Tempest’s long journey home will not have brought the beleagured whistler much solace, judging by the verdicts of the rugby media.
“Newcastle left to rue controversial refereeing calls” said the Daily Telegraph’s headline, while the BBC website commented: “Newcastle were denied a try in bizarre circumstances.”
But what will probably hurt him most, is the knowledge that his Monday Twickenham sit-down with boss Tony Spreadbury will find an understandable, even forgivable error was compounded by a second completely avoidable self-inflicted wound.
A better look at the Goneva dummy… pic.twitter.com/7CMl2gyfyX
— Rugby on TNT Sports (@rugbyontnt) September 2, 2018
After a long-distance and impromptu snap drop goal such as this, an organised kick chase is rare. Given that a touchdown or dead ball usually follows a failed kick, few referees therefore have the time or inclination to progress beyond the 22-metre line restart point.
However, this does not mean the referee’s concentration can waiver, or eyes can stray far from the ball and those around it. And despite not seeing Goneva touch the ball down – perhaps due to a line of sight interrupted by Newcastle players or post padding – it seems likely that Tempest momentarily relaxed.
When the Newcastle flyer started to run, the official therefore made a rapid reactive decision based on gut instinct and what his sub-conscious told him had probably happened rather than a more considered one, and got it wrong.
Not ideal at this level, but also far from a hanging offence. Shrug the shoulders and move on.
Many have since said Tempest should have allowed play to continue, knowing a TMO referral would subsequently have cleared matters up. While this is true, it fails to consider the alternative scenario which will have flashed through his mind.
Since had Goneva actually completed the touchdown and been heading for his 22 to take a quick drop-out, imagine the carnage that might have resulted had the unsuspecting winger then been crunched by a Saracens forward while on that journey to the restart point.
"We want people to creative in rugby and try and find the edge. Brilliant play."@ugomonye loves the thinking from Vereniki Goneva despite Ian Tempest disagreeing. pic.twitter.com/l8MEAUNdfV
— Rugby on TNT Sports (@rugbyontnt) September 2, 2018
So once Mr Tempest was unsure about what actually happened in goal, in that split second he undoubtedly took the safest available option.
Had this been the end of the matter there would have been little further comment, however, the under-pressure official attempted to talk his way out of the small hole he had dug.
And in doing so he rapidly replaced a shovel with a mechanical digger by explaining the recall of Goneva as being down to “a games value offence.”
Since these words were not followed up by the award of a penalty, presumably Mr Tempest failed to even convince himself that this was an accurate assessment of what he had – or rather hadn’t – seen.
But assuming this rather clumsy term is a euphemism for gamesmanship, selling a dummy to an opponent hardly ranks alongside – say – the hand of Back or Bloodgate.
Finally got round to seeing the ‘phantom grounding’ by Niki Goneva. Purely my personal opinion but, by that logic, isn’t every dummy during a match a ‘game value’ offence? To be clear, I’m not speaking in a club capacity. Purely as a punter.
— mark smith (@markismith50) September 2, 2018
After all, what difference exists between Goneva’s actions and any number of other commonplace scenarios? For instance, how about the goal-kicker who having been awarded a penalty retreats from the mark to widen the kicking angle before taking a quick tap and racing past a dozy retreating defence to the try-line?
But in truth, despite the acres of newsprint and screaming social media masses, little harm has been done. Goneva would not have got out of his own half without Tempest’s premature whistle, and with an hour remaining the incident did not turn the match.
And even if the refereeing pecking order behind the retirement-bound Wayne Barnes has just undergone its first minor revision of the season, with 21 more rounds remaining this particular tempest will quickly blow itself out.
Comments on RugbyPass
I like this, but ultimately rugby already has enough trophies. Trying to make more games “consequential" might prove to be a fools errand, although this is a less bad idea than some others. Minor quibble with the title of the article; it isn’t very meaningful to say the boks are the unofficial world champions when it would be functionally impossible for the Raeburn trophy not to be held by the world champions. There’s a period of a few months every 4 years when there is no “unofficial” world champion, and the Raeburn trophy is held by the actual world champions.
8 Go to commentsIts a great idea but one that I dont think will have a lot of traction. It will depend on the prestige that they each hold but if you can do that it would be great. When Japan beat the Boks (my team) I was absolutely devestated but I wont deny the great game they played that day. We were outclassed and it was one of the best games of rugby I have seen. Using an idea like this you might just give the the underdog teams more of an opportunity to beat the big teams and I can absolutely see it being a brilliant display of rugby. They beat us because they planned for that game. It was a great moment for Japan. This way we can remove the 4 year wait and give teams something to aim for outside of World Cup years.
8 Go to commentsHi, Dave here. Happy to answer questions 🥰
8 Go to commentsDon’t think that headline is accurate. It’s great to see Aus doing better but I’m not sure they’ve shown much threat to the top of the table. They shouldn’t be inflating wins against the lousy Highlanders and Crusaders either.
3 Go to commentsSuch a shame Roigard and Aumua picked up long term injuries, probably the two form players in the comp. Also, pretty sure Clarke Dermody isn’t their coach. Got it half right though.
3 Go to commentsOh the Aussie media, they never learn. At least Andrew Kellaway is like “Woah, yeah it’s great, but settle down there guys” having endured years of the Aussie media, fans, and often their players getting ahead of themselves only to fall flat on their faces. Have the “We'll win the Bledisloe for sure this year!” headlines started yet? It’s simple to see what’s going on. The Aussie teams are settled, they didn't lose any of their major players overseas. The Crusaders and Chiefs lost key experienced All Blacks, and Razor in the Crusaders case, and clearly neither are anywhere near as strong as last year (The Canes and Blues would probably be 3rd & 4th if they were). The Highlanders are annually average, even more so post-Aaron Smith and a big squad clean out. The two teams at the top? The two nz sides with largely the same settled roster as last year, except Ardie Savea for the Canes. They’ve both got far better coaches now too. If the Aussies are going to win the title, this is the year the kiwi sides will be weakest, so they better take their chance.
3 Go to commentsThe World Cup has to be the gold standard, line in the sand. 113 teams compete for what is the opportunity to make the pool stages, and then the knockout games for the trophy. The concept is sound. This must have been the rationale when the World Cup was created, surely? But I’m all for Looking forward and finding new ways for the SH to dominate the NH into the future. The autumn series needs a change up. Let’s start by having the NH teams come south every odd year for the Autumn/Spring series games?
8 Go to commentsWhat’ll happen when the AI models of the future go back in time and try to destroy the AI models of the past standing in their way of certain victory?
41 Go to commentsThanks, Nick. We (Seanny Maloney, Brett and I) just discussed Charlie as a potential Wallaby No 8, and wondered if he has truly realised how big he is in contact (and whether he can add 5 kg w/o slowing down). Your scouting report confirms our suspicions he has the materiel. No one knows if he has the mentality (as Johann van Graan said this week about CJ, Duane and Alfie B) to carry 10-15 times a game.
57 Go to commentsHe would be a great player for the Stormers, Dobbo should approach the guy.
3 Go to commentsGood article. A few years back when he was playing for the Cheetahs, he was a quiet standout for exactly the seasons stated here. I occasionally get to see his games in the UK, and he has become a more complete player and in many ways like an Irish player. His work ethic is so suitable to the Leinster game. I wonder if Rassie would have him listed somewhere.
3 Go to commentsResults probably skewed by the fact that a few clubs have foreign fly halves in their 30s, but most teams have young English scrum halves. Results also likely to be skewed by the fact that many teams rely on centres and fullbacks to provide depth at 10, whereas they will need to stock a large number of specialist backup 9s.
1 Go to commentsI really get the sense that when all is said and done, the path of least resistance will end up being a merger of Wasps & Worcester that essentially kills the Worcester Warriors brand and sees Wasps permanently playing at Sixways. I’m not saying that’s what should happen or what I want to happen. I just think it’s the easiest rout to take and therefore, will be what happens. Wasps will definitely return to play first, and I suppose it all depends on if they can find support at Sixways. If people turn up and support Wasps in that community, at that ground, I bet they drop the Sevenoaks plan and just remain at Sixways. Under the radar but not totally unrelated, it looks as though London Irish are going to be brought back from the dead by a German consortium and look set to return, likely to the remade Championship. It’s set to have 12 clubs next season with 14 in 2025/26, what do you want to bet those extra 2 are Wasps and London Irish?
3 Go to commentsThe shoulder is a “joint” with multiple bones. You don’t “fracture” a shoulder, you fracture any one or more of the bones that make up a shoulder.
2 Go to commentsOh dear, bones too suspect to continue?
2 Go to commentsBold headline considering the Canes and Blues are 1 and 2 and the Brumbies were soundly beaten by the Chiefs and Blues. Biggest surprise is Rebels 4 Crusaders 12 - no one saw that coming. If Aus are improving that’s great 👍
3 Go to commentsAnna, You are right, we need to have patience whilst the others catch up to England and France. Also it is the PWR that has been the game changer for England. the RFU put money into that initially at the expense of the Red Roses. I was sceptical at first but it has paid off in spades.
1 Go to commentsI think Matt Proctor became a 1 test AB in the same fixture. Cameron is quality and has been great this season, can’t believe’s he only 27. Realistically how would he not be selected for ABs squad this year. Only Dmac is ahead of him as a specialist 10. With Jordan out, it will come down to where and when Beauden Barrett slots back in, and where they want to play Ruben Love. Cameron seems an absolute lock in for the wider squad though. Added benefit of TJ-Cameron-Jordie combination at 9, 10, 11 too.
1 Go to commentsFarcical, to what end would someone want to pay to keep this thing going.
1 Go to commentsHavili, our best 12 by a mile, will be in the squad, if he stays fit. JB is the most overrated AB in the last 50 years.
61 Go to comments