Phil Davies' 'reasonably instantaneous' smart ball promise
Phil Davies isn’t set to fly out to South Africa until July 6. The World Rugby director of rugby has other things in his in-tray to attend before heading to Cape Town, but his hope by the time he arrives in the Mother City for the Junior World Championship play-offs is that the potentially groundbreaking smart ball will have lived up to the hype.
It was May 17 when the game’s global body confirmed that the staging of the U20s tournament for the first time since 2019 would be the perfect testing ground to see if this in-ball technology can provide immediate feedback on every kick, pass and throw.
What it says on the tin is that beacons positioned around the pitch will determine the exact position of the ball up to 20 times per second, 3D real-time tracking that can assist match officials with five aspects of play – forward passes, made touch location, touched in flight, ball over try line, and crooked throws.
It’s an intriguing tick list that had its genesis in the smart ball’s introduction during last November’s Autumn Nations Series. A raft of stats emerged on the back of those Test matches – for instance, passing length. It was claimed that Ireland and New Zealand, two of the teams that emerged with unbeaten campaigns, had the shortest average passing distance of 6.04 and 6.16 metres respectively.
Digging deeper, we were also told that the average speed of a spin pass was 22.1mph and that the average hang time of a retained box kick was four seconds across the Autumn Nations Series, the ball moving 18.8 metres parallel to the touchline to allow a chasing player to compete.
All well and good if you were fascinated by a new ream of stats. World Rugby, though, following on from its World Rugby Shape of the Game Conference in London last November and March, wanted something different – the use of smart ball technology that could potentially help its officials make accurate decisions more quickly, tackling some common but challenging aspects of the law.
Three months from that latest conference gathering in England, this Saturday in Paarl and Stellenbosch will trial the fruits of that inquisitiveness – six age-grade matches split across two venues with hopefully loads of opportunity to find out about the smart ball and its reliability in five different areas.
Davies – who joined World Rugby in February 2022 as the DoR successor to Joe Schmidt – will watch from afar with intrigue. “We had CEOs, coaches, all the key stakeholders at the first Shape of the Game conference last November and we have looked at various ways we can introduce technology,” he told RugbyPass.
“The simple one is the shot clock which had been in France in the Top 14, and the other one was a smart ball that had been used by the Six Nations in the autumn internationals and we just wanted to see if it had a wider scope than just do forward passes.
“The boffins of our organisation spoke to Sportable and asked, ‘Can we look at other aspects like not straight at the lineout, knock-on as you cross the line, those sorts of things?’ For us it’s about getting more quicker, consistent and accurate decisions to support the flow of the game in terms of speed and continuity and then also from a match officiating perspective, trying to keep the game flowing and support our match officiating.”
As with all trials, the devil will be in the detail. So how will the referees on deck in Paarl and Stellenbosch this weekend be relayed the smart ball findings? “It’s reasonably instantaneous,” promised Davies. “What will happen is the TMO will be told by the Sportable operator and the TMO can then let the referee know.
“In time hopefully the messaging can go directly to the referee. It’s a trial phase and in all trials, there is a margin for error, and you learn from experiences.
“That is how it is going to be done basically at the moment: from the Sportable operator to the TMO and then to the referee – and also at the same time the referee can make his or her own judgement. If it is not a game-defining forward pass that leads to a try or it is marginal, it is still down to the referee as the sole arbiter on the field. That is the main thing.”
How many @RugbyWorldCup greats can you spot making their career starts here? ??
Watch more future icons get their big breaks at the #WorldRugbyU20s – starting Saturday 24 June ? pic.twitter.com/Dr39XC2Pnq
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There are still some anomalies, such as the smart ball being able to relay whether a ball has crossed the line but it can’t say that it has been grounded and that a try should be awarded. “Crossing the line is literally crossing the line,” cautioned Davies. “One of the things they are working on is whether it actually gets grounded. That is one of the things that we have got to work it.”
More straightforward, hopefully, will be forward pass analysis. For years, it’s an area of the game that created arguments, particularly commentary on the position of a player’s wrists when a pass is released. It’s a debate that Davies now hopes can be silenced.
“Unlike Hawkeye in tennis and the technology that has been brought into cricket, it is never about the umpire in those sports but it is in rugby, it is about the referee if the pass is forward, the position of the wrists and everyone shouting ‘forward’ at the ref.
“This is trying to bring a bit more accuracy into the game using technology which makes the referee’s job easier, but it is going to take a bit of time. A forward pass is about the speed of rotation of ball, running speed of the players, so all that is taken into account. It’s going to be interesting.
“We have a document of what the smart ball can do and the type of information it can give and it’s now just waiting for the tournament to start and the trial to go and then we will get feedback over the pool stages and at the end of the tournament as well. Everybody is aware of what it is about. Now it is all about seeing it in action and how it operates.”
With the Junior World Championship set to be played for the first time in 4?? years later this month, Liam Heagney ??? looks at what has become of the 2019 title-winning French side. #WorldRugbyU20s @FranceRugbyhttps://t.co/IXOJin1Z39
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) June 7, 2023
The 59-year-old Davies won 46 Test caps as a prop with Wales during the amateur era, going on to coach professionally at a myriad of clubs – including guiding Leeds to 2005 Powergen Cup glory – and guiding Namibia at back-to-back Rugby World Cup in 2015 and 2019, that latter tournament featuring the novelty of the African minnows enjoying a fleeting 3-0 lead over the All Blacks in a pool match.
Off the top of his head, was there a contentious decision during his career that could perhaps have been resolved by the smart ball being around at the time? “That’s a very good question. Maybe a couple of lineouts here and there. I can’t pinpoint one in particular, but maybe a couple of lineouts possibly.
“In our days playing, certainly the technology wasn’t about. Nowhere near it. In coaching, some of the camera angles or the ability to have certain video replays at certain angles were always helpful, so hopefully the technology will, moving forward, give us a bit more accuracy and consistency and support the game as a whole and particularly the match officials.”
Smart ball isn’t the only watch-this-space innovation at the Junior World Championship. A TMO bunker concept has been used in this season’s Super Rugby Pacific, enabling the review of a yellow card during the 10-minute sin-binning to see if the decision merits upgrading to a red card, and it will now be trialled in South Africa with a view to possibly taking the initiative forward into Test rugby ahead of the upcoming Rugby World Cup.
With this in mind, it was apt that Davies was talking to RugbyPass while at the Aviva Stadium, the ground that witnessed two of the most hotly debated refereeing decision during the recent Six Nations – the yellow carding of France’s Uini Atonio that resulted in his three-week suspension and the red carding of England’s Freddie Steward which was rescinded at a disciplinary hearing and downgraded to a yellow card offence.
“The TMO bunker is again all about being able to help the referees,” explained Davies. “The referees are making decisions in real-time, as are the players, on the pitch. Sometimes the coaches in the box have the benefit of hindsight with the video replay and the referees haven’t got that. The bunker is there to provide that.
“If it is a clear and obvious yellow card that is fine, but sometimes the game is so quick if there is a 50/50 decision now there is an opportunity to go off the field for the foul play review officer in the bunker to have time to make a little bit more of a considered decision.
“They have got seven or eight minutes whereas the referee has got a few seconds. Hopefully, that will give a little bit more time to be able to come to hopefully the right decision, whether it remains a yellow card or if it gets upgraded to a red card.”
Comments on RugbyPass
The fact that the press were largely to blame for his taking a break is nothing short of disgusting. He’s made a few mistakes but difficult to name a player of any substance who gives it a full go hasn’t also made mistakes? On behalf of a large number of Bokke fans, bring back Farrell !!!!!
1 Go to commentsPSTD is a fantastic flanker. He could benefit from a bit of self-promotion / flair and he is not quite the danger man that Ardie is. That said, he is my 1st pick to build a backrow around. His speed and hustle made up for Duane who got quite a bit slower at the 8.
2 Go to commentssurprised, disco lights haven't been banned by world rugby board
19 Go to commentsToo many changes. Too often. I’m tired of this WR administration. How do we vote these fockers out? Bill needs to go.
19 Go to commentsDu Toit, 2 time W.Cup winner yet rarely mentioned a “Great “…if one looks back on his stellar carrier perhaps someone will one day elevate him to “Richie” status…a quiet, polite yet devastating loose forward that knew action speaks louder than words..
2 Go to commentsI like the offside rule, but this won't affect my team because all their kicks gets chased and that putts everyone on side. Lekker manne!
19 Go to comments20 minute Red Card is untenable. If you don’t punish the whole team, coaches won’t be sufficently incentivised to pick players with, or coach better tackle technique.
1 Go to commentsI can only think of One time ever a team has opted for a scrum from a free kick… Why the law change I wonder
19 Go to commentsYeah, its not going to work. But we see you World Rugby.
19 Go to commentsLove the reaction after last 2 W.Cups re rule changes…maybe good for more for more of a “ league” type running game( which I personally don’t like) but seems Rassie is definitely in ther heads…
19 Go to commentsGreat. More unwanted changes. Because these always work out well.
19 Go to commentsI’m sure South Africa’s opponents will rejoice at World Rugby minimising one of the Boks’ most potent weapons, but you just know Rassie is cooking something up with free-kicks that no-one else has thought of. Let them play checkers. Rassie’s playing chess. 😂
19 Go to commentsAfter a fairly simple Pac4, the BFs will find out a lot about themselves in September when they face the rampaging RedRoses at Twickenham in front of a record crowd. After that they will face them again in Canada in WXV1. They also have France to contend with. Will be interesting to see what Australia have to offer with Jo Yapp at the helm.
1 Go to commentsSuper Rugby Pacific has been better as a spectacle due to the emphasis on speeding the game up and I’d look at taking things a step further. Instead of giving teams 90 seconds to take a conversion, let’s bring that down 60 seconds. You could also look at allowing 45 seconds for a penalty goal. Maybe teams could get 20 seconds instead of 30 to form a scrum before the ref then starts the engagement process. However, this year the most pleasing change is the added competitiveness in the Trans Tasman matches. What does frustrate me is how the rugby media in Australasia allow the the whole ‘‘rugby is boring’’/’’rugby yawnion’’ narrative to take hold from from vindictive league types, the chairman of the ARL commission and News Limited Australia. Stick up for the game and shift the narrative!
22 Go to commentsIt’s not new for nines to be the key playmaker. For the Boks it has been common, with Fourie du Preez and Joost vd Westhuizen being obvious examples. It's also not that recent for nines to be box kicking, covering high balls in the back field, and tackling in the defensive line. For example, Faf de Klerk has been doing all of that for years.
6 Go to commentsThe hell with this constant regurgitation of what this pretty boy is doing. For all I care he might as well be doing a Jamie Oliver cooking course. Rugby is not a progression toward the NFL, which, given its prominence in your reporting, you appear to regard as the ultimate contact sport. It has virtually nothing to do with rugby, and forever may that remain the case. I know that if I don’t like it I don’t have to read it, but I’m sick of seeing this dishwater-dull nonsense.
2 Go to commentsGuys Eben did not mean it in a ugly way as it’s just a feeling he had. We Safas rate the All Blacks and no Bok player wants to play NZ in a Knockout game
148 Go to commentsHe basically described who Aaron Smith also considers the GOAT 9….the one & only Fourie du Preez😎
6 Go to commentsI’m hoping that the Reds can win their last 4 games with a couple of try bonus points. The pessimist in me wouldn't be surprised if the Drua and the Tahs knock the Reds over. The Reds may end up ruing the fact they were distinctly 2nd best against the Force and just so clunky against Moana Pasifica. The Brumbies should win all their remaining games with some bonus points giving them at least a top 2 finish as the leading Kiwi sides will take points off each other. How the Brumbies handle the fact that they will be expected to beat the Crusaders will fascinate me. You’d probably have to go back to 2001 for the last time the Brumbies would go into a game against the Crusaders odds on to win.
8 Go to commentsFree to air is the key to fan expansion. I attended last weeks game at Suncorp (Reds v Blues) and the total cost is prohibitive to most people that wish to attend. Two tickets $130, parking (event day gouging) $75, road tolls $20, dinner beforehand $130, plus some petrol and a beer inside the stadium and a single game starts to cost $300-400. Who can afford that week in week out, I’d love to go more but could only afford this one game to see the Blues, I’d have loved to have seen more NZ teams here but I’d need to stop eating or sell a kidney.
22 Go to comments