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
Amazing. The losing team’s ratings are higher than the winning team’s. Mallia definitely didn’t deserve a y. What game were you watching? Should have got a w or an x. ADP hardly featured in that second half. At one point I wondered when he’d been subbed. Seems to me as if he gets an automatic 9 just for getting onto the team sheet.
1 Go to commentsI’m sorry. That second half was far from enthralling. It was painful to watch.
1 Go to commentsVery generous! If you’d missed the game, reading this you’d conclude that it was the Quins front row that cost them the game. Marler getting a blanket 6 for his demented contribution to the game. Puzzling.
1 Go to commentsCan’t see Toulouse beating Leinster at this rate.
7 Go to commentsADP was having a very average game until winning that penalty for Toulouse, sticking his big head in the way. “The head of God”?
7 Go to commentsHarlequins doing their best to do as little damage as possible with all the possession. Looks like they skipped catch and pass drills this week.
7 Go to commentsSeeing pictures of Jacques high-fiving it with Irish players breaks my heart. Too soon. I need more time.
1 Go to commentsquins is all over the place. The minute they get the ball they panic. Quins can still win tho just need to win all rucks otherwise just don't bother.
7 Go to commentsGreat wins for the male & female kiwi sides. Ireland not far away..
1 Go to commentsWhy is this dude getting so much coverage? Usually knobs like this get cancelled.
2 Go to commentsWow. What was that? A 3 million word meandering article about what exactly?
2 Go to commentsNice piece of writing. And yes the Sharks pulled a rabbit from the hat and were a little lucky with that penalty try that wasn’t given… however the Sharks (with their resources) should be way more consistent and should be putting teams like Claremont away for breakfast. I expect more from them and hope they kick on now.
8 Go to commentsJust what the Sharks needed to get things going in the right direction Defence on the outside really creates havoc for the whole team and needs to be addressed.
8 Go to commentsWell done guys both teams will be ready to play knockout rugby.
1 Go to commentsSurprised that Ramos isn't starting at 15. But what a squad of galacticos!
2 Go to commentsWhy is it a snub? What journalistic garbage is that? Sure the guy is a great player, but there are plenty of loose forwards and not all of them can be Springboks. Also, I know of no-one who doubts Rassie’s judgment. South Africa has a conveyor belt of loose forwards that just keeps producing, so the competition is intense. I certainly wish him well, but there is no entitlement and there is no snub.
17 Go to commentsSkelton may be brought back for the Wallabies so that would be the only reason that may hinder Wilson. Easily the form, most skilful and game IQ of any Oz 8. Valentini’s best and favourite position is 6, but lineouts may be an issue with Skelton, Valentini and Wilson. Will be interesting what Schmidt goes for but for me Wilson should be picked on form. Schmidt rewards work rate, skill and consistency. All that glitters every so often won’t be in contention. Greely is one of those players that has a knack of making the right decision. A coach is going to love him because he knows week in week out he’s going to get the job done. The second try Greely wasn’t the guy who made the initial break it was Flook, Greely was at the bottom of the ruck when Flook was off along the sideline. Greely got up and made the effort to catch up with play but also read the play nicely and hit the pass from Campbell at pace and then held the pass beautifully to Ryan.
6 Go to commentsSpot on Ben. Dead right. Havili looked great at 10. Easily the highest rugby IQ of any NZ player these days. Getting a kick charged down is a result of getting used to adjusting your depth to the line at 10, which he will sort out with time. But other than that it was an outstanding first effort in that position this year. I think the NZ media has misunderstood this directive from Razor. Havili might rank behind B Barrett this year, but Beuden is 33 this month and won't last much longer. DMaC is great but flaky and not really a test match animal (his efforts in Dunedin versus Aus last year for example). If Razor can't have Mounga, DMaC is too unstructured for Razor (and is just too small for test rugby). Havili will end up our first choice first five, and in partnership with Jodie will be excellent. Two triple threat operators in tandem, and big bodies and tough tacklers to boot. Jordoe will be the ABs goal kicker. I am an Aucklander and Blues (and Warriors) fan, but Havili at 10 is going to be sensational in time… he can be the best first five in the world by the end of this year. No question.
6 Go to commentsSharks deserved to be far further back by the last quarter. Their tackling was awful, their set pieces were disappointing, their defensive organization was poor (especially on the Kok side of the D line), they kept making unnecessary errors, and they never looked like cracking the Clermont defense during those first 60m. Masuku kept them in touch, with some help from the Clermont generosity on penalty opportunities. Agree with the writer of this article. It was belligerence, and ability to raise their pressure game just enough, that turned the last quarter into a Bok-style shutout. Clermont have a reputation of not playing the full 80m, and there was a bit of that for sure. But, quite often when the intensity of a team drops off in the last quarter credit is due to the opponent for tiring them out. At 60m, with the Kok try, you thought that just maybe the game was on. At 70m, with the Mapimpi contribution, one felt that Clermont were fading, while facing a team that would maintain the pressure game through the final whistle. Good win in the end, but the Sharks are still playing way below their potential. And with their resources, and a coach that has had enough time to figure things out, they are running out of excuses.
8 Go to commentsGood riddance
1 Go to comments