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'Of course it was [a forward pass]' says Wayne Barnes
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Wayne Barnes has revealed how his mistake in the 2007 Rugby World Cup quarter-final spurred him on to become one of rugby’s top referees.
In a wide-ranging interview with Radio Sport’s D’Arcy Waldegrave – which you can watch in full above – Barnes talks about his career at length, including, of course, that famous decision in the All Blacks‘ quarter-final defeat to France, where a missed forward pass which led to a French try proved crucial in France’s eventual 20-18 victory.
Now one of the world’s most highly-rated referees, who was given the bronze medal match between the All Blacks and Wales at the 2019 Rugby World Cup, Barnes says the public criticism and his own drive to improve made him a superior referee.
“Everyone improves over time. I went into the 2007 World Cup probably only refereeing three or four test matches, and I’ve now refereed about 90, so you learn from those games – like New Zealand v France, and of course I’ve learned from my mistakes in that game.
“You’re 28 years old, at the start of your career – I guess it was a bit of a motivator to do a bit better. That’s how I definitely saw it, and this World Cup for me, nobody was talking about Wayne Barnes’ performance, so maybe 12 years of experience has helped do that.”
Barnes also revealed the ultimate reason for his blunder when missing the forward pass, saying that he immediately knew he had made an error when he saw it on the stadium’s screen, but the laws in 2007 did not allow the Television Match Official to overturn the decision.
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“Of course it was [a forward pass] – we’ve all seen it. You know it’s a forward pass about two or three seconds later when you look up on the screen and you see it, the problem was that the TMO protocols were different then, and that’s probably part of the reason why they’ve changed it.”
Barnes, who was voted the 2019 World Rugby referee of the year, pointed to one of England’s tries being ruled out in the semifinal against the All Blacks due to obstruction as a ruling he wouldn’t have been able to make in 2007.
“The referee would have given that in 2007 because he didn’t see it clearly, and then we’d be talking about the referee. But Nigel Owens went upstairs to Marius Jonker, and they made the right decision. That’s where we’ve evolved as a sport over the last 12 years – we get the big calls right, more often than not.”
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Now, Barnes hopes that his intense attention to detail and preparation means that his name is rarely mentioned after refereeing a big match, having made plenty of changes since 2007.
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“I just wanted to get better on the back of it – that was my first tournament, my first knockout game,” he explained to Waldegrave.
“I probably spent more time with coaches after that to try and learn the game better, I’ve now got a set-piece and a scrummaging coach, Phil Keith-Roach, who I review every game with. I’ve worked harder on my fitness – as a 28-year-old in 2007 I probably took it for granted that I’d always be fit, now I’ve got an extraordinarily good support team around me with strength and conditioning and physio support.
“I’ve put a board around me to make sure that when I go into big matches, nothing’s put to chance – sports psychologists, former international referees, my wife – five or six people around me helping to make sure that when I make a decision, nothing’s left to chance, and it’s more likely that nobody’s talking about me after the match.”
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The 40-year-old also joked that he has a much better relationship with New Zealanders now, than he did in 2007.
“I was quite surprised that I was voted the third-most hated man in New Zealand in 2007. I’m told it was behind Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein! Whether that’s justified is a matter for you and your listeners,” he laughed.
“They’ve definitely mellowed with me and I can say that with confidence, because in 2007, there was a bar in Queenstown called Cowboys which had a bust of my head in one of the urinals – and you can imagine what people did with that. But I went back there a few years ago – and I’d been replaced by Donald Trump!
“So you must have mellowed.”
This article first appeared on nzherald.co.nz and is republished with permission.
La Rochelle hooker Pierre Bourgarit has received just a six-week ban for eye-gouging:
Comments on RugbyPass
If rugby wants to remain interesting in the AI era then it will need to work on changing the rules. AI will reduce the tactical advantage of smart game plans, will neutralize primary attacking weapons, and will move rugby from a being a game of inches to a game of millimetres. It will be about sheer athleticism and technique,about avoiding mistakes, and about referees. Many fans will find that boring. The answer is to add creative degrees of freedom to the game. The 50-22 is an example. But we can have fun inventing others, like the right to add more players for X minutes per game, or the equivalent of the 2-point conversion in American football, the ability to call a 12-player scrum, etc. Not saying these are great ideas, but making the point that the more of these alternatives you allow, the less AI will be able to lock down high-probability strategies. This is not because AI does not have the compute power, but because it has more choices and has less data, or less-specific data. That will take time and debate, but big, positive and immediate impact could be in the area of ref/TMO assistance. The technology is easily good enough today to detect forward passes, not-straight lineouts, offside at breakdown/scrum/lineout, obstruction, early/late tackles, and a lot of other things. WR should be ultra aggressive in doing this, as it will really help in an area in which the game is really struggling. In the long run there needs to be substantial creativity applied to the rules. Without that AI (along with all of the pro innovations) will turn rugby into a bash fest.
24 Go to commentsSouth Africa rarely play Ireland and France on these tours. Mostly, England, Scotland and Wales. I wonder why
1 Go to commentsIt was a let’s-see-what-you're-made-of type of a game. The Bulls do look good when the opposition allows them to, but Munster shut them down, and they could not find a way through. Jake should be very worried about their chances in the competition.
2 Go to commentsHats off to Fabian for a very impressive journey to date. Is it as ‘uniquely unlikely’ as Rugby Pass suggests, given Anton Segner’s journey at the Blues?
1 Go to commentsSad that this was not confirmed. When administrators talk about expanding the game they evidently don’t include pathways to the top tier of rugby for teams outside of the old boys club. Rugby deserves better, and certainly Georgia does.
1 Go to commentsLions might take him on if they move on Van Rooyen but I doubt he will want to go back, might consider it a step backwards for himself. Sharks would take him on but if Plumtree goes on to win the challenge cup they will keep him on. Also sharks showing some promising signs recently. Stormers and Bulls are stable and Springboks are already filled up. Quality coach though, interesting to see where he ends up
1 Go to commentsAnd the person responsible for creating a culture of accountability is?
3 Go to commentsMore useless words from Ben Smith -Please get another team to write about. SA really dont need your input, it suck anyway.
264 Go to commentsThis disgraceful episode must result in management and coach team sackings. A new manager with worse results than previous and the coaching staff need to coached. Awful massacre led by donkeys.
1 Go to commentsInteresting article with one glaring mistake. This sentence: “And between the top four nations right now, Ireland, France, South Africa, and New Zealand…” should read: And between the top four nations right now, South Africa, Ireland, New Zealand and France…”. Get it right wistful thinkers, its not that hard.
24 Go to commentsHow did Penny get the gig anyway?
3 Go to commentsNice write up Nick and I would have agreed a week ago. However as you would know Cale & co got absolutely monstered by the Blues back row of Sotutu, Ioane and Papaliti and not all of these 3 are guaranteed a start in the Black jumper. He may need to put some kgs before stepping up, Spring tour? After the week end Joe will be a bit more restless. Will need to pick a mobile tough pack for Wales and hope England does the right thing and bashes the ABs. I like your last paragraph but I would bring Swinton, Hannigan into the 6 role and Bobby V to 8
23 Go to commentsThe Crusaders can still get in to the Play Off’s. The imminent return of outstanding captain Scott Barrett and his All Black team mate Codie Taylor will be a big boost.There are others like Tamaiti Williams too. Two home games coming up. Fellow Crusader fans get there and support these guys. I will be.
1 Go to commentsCant get more Wellington than Proctor.
2 Go to commentsWhy not let the media decide. Like how they choose the head coach. Like most of us we entrust the rugby system to choose. A rugby team includes the coaches. It's collective.
14 Go to commentsHi NIck, I have been very impressed with him and he seems a smart player who can see opportunities which Bobby V _(who must be an international 6_) doesn’t see or have the speed to take advantage of. If he continues to improve and puts on 5kgs then he could be a great 8. He is a bit taller than Keiran Reid at 1.93m and 111 kgs, so his skill set fits his body size and who knows where it will lead. I hope the spate of Achilles tendon issues have been dealt with by the S&C people. It’s been a very long time since Mark Loane and Kefu stood out at 8. The question is will we be able to hold onto him, if he does make it he will be pretty hot property. I disagree with the idea of letting them go to the Northern Hemisphere and then bring them back.
23 Go to commentsBilly Fulton 🤣🤣🤣🤣 garrrmon not even close
14 Go to commentsDoes the AI take into account refs? hahaha Seriously why not have two on field refs to avoid bias?
24 Go to commentsVern challenging this Blues side might be the edge they need to fulfill their potential. Convincing results from strong D and strong carries are hard to argue against.
1 Go to commentsLove seems to add a strong back field defense with speed to close the gap and tackle to his ability to attack, kick and pass (an accurate long pass). This sets him an edge over some of the other names - JRK in particular. Has to be said that Jordan and Stevenson have also been exposed defensively while Love has yet to face test match intensity. Spoilt for choice.
1 Go to comments