'Public has lost faith in refs' - Jonathan Kaplan
Jonathan Kaplan has waded into the ongoing discussion about those doing his old job this week, via a column in The Telegraph.
The former South African test referee claims that ‘public mood has shifted from acceptance to frustration, both over the decisions made and the manner in which they have been reached.’
He went on to explain the changes that he’d make to clean up some of the confusion going on at the highest level of the game: handing more powers to the TMO, encouraging former refs to be TMOs and having all refs contracted to World Rugby.
So basically: common sense, right? The biggest problem with refereeing is the bureaucratisation of its processes, which are seemingly designed to leave no one at fault if something goes wrong.
Let’s look at the case study of Marika Koroibete’s non-try at a pretty crucial time in England’s win over the Wallabies.
There’s a couple of different interpretations of what happened, that Chris Robshaw was offside, that Stephen Moore ran an obstruction and then there’s also the fact that you can’t actually see Koroibete ground the ball anyway.
Ref Ben O’Keeffe and TMO Simon McDowell conspired to make the call that it was an obstruction and penalised the Wallabies, effectively costing them any chance of winning the game right there. Contentious, to say the least. The problem was that by deferring to the TMO and having a committee meeting about what happened makes O’Keeffe look weak.
Now that’s a problem, but not as much as the fact that this way of reaching a decision isn’t universal. Nigel Owens simply uses the TMO as a glorified helper to cue up replays so he can make his own mind up, while the whole question of ‘try or no try’ vs ‘give me a reason why I can’t award the try’ makes things ambiguous to start with.
That’s why Kaplan’s final suggestion is the most logical, and it’s strange why it hasn’t actually happened yet. If all test referees were centrally contracted, then there would be less confusion around procedures. For the record, I’m personally in favour of the way Owens does it, by taking sole responsibility of a decision then that at least will reduce the amount of blowback on the system (but it also probably means that the standardised interpretations will reduce this anyway).
But why stop there? As well as contracting them, set them up in teams just like players. Have a squad of three working each test for a season at a time, rotating the role of main and assistant refs. This way they get know each other’s tendencies and work-ons so that when they’re assisting they look out for the right things. Put juniors in with two seniors so they can gradually work their way up by learning off the more experienced guys.
Kaplan’s ideas make sense, and are worth pursuing – however you get the feeling why they haven’t is probably because it’ll cost World Rugby money. However if the showpiece of the game, a test match in front of 82,000 and being watched by millions on TV, is getting remembered for a couple of dodgy calls then it’ll probably end up being money well spent.
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Comments on RugbyPass
Hard to disagree with the 5 points - with the exception that Wilson should be a squad member but, depending on the other loose forward selections, is not yet a shoo-in. McReight is. Aussie is looking a lot better this year and JS has some selection options. Also, Havili’s tendency to get caught, charged down is also a liability at times but he seemed focused (mostly) and is definitely a consideration for utility back-up. Still feel Reihana is a better prospect at 1st five for Saders.
2 Go to commentsYeah nah, still not sure on Havili tbh. Even though I’m a Crusaders fan through and through I’d be stunned if Razor considers him after seeing some of the stunning talent coming through up North.
2 Go to commentsThink it was a great defensive performance by Northampton. They didn't have stage fright in the first half, the Nienaber defense smothered them. They limited Leinster to 15-3 in the first half. It could have been over by then. A great try from Leinster in the start of the second half looked to have sealed it. But Byrne missed another conversion. Northampton started trying little kicks behind the Leinster wingers. Leinster messed one and Smith brilliantly made the conversion. Leinster decided to tighten the game after Byrne missed a straight forward penalty. A few errors got NH into the 22 and they scored and converted with a few minutes left. Another brilliant steal from Lawes saw NH have a final attack which was turned over by Conan. A classic semi final. World record attendance of 82,300. Leinsters 3 week preparation warranted for this one.
1 Go to commentsJust came back from the game and the atmosphere was amazing. Players stayed afterwards for more than a hour to sign stuff and take photos with fans. Great day out.
5 Go to commentsA great game. The Sharks without Etsebeth are a shadow of the team compared to when he plays. The limitations of Some of the expensive Sharks players are being exposed. Credit to Clermont for some exhilaration play at times.
5 Go to comments100% Mr Owens. But who would want to be a referee.? It must be the most difficult job on earth.
1 Go to commentsStarts to be overdone and oversold this systematic SA narrative…which nevertheless has the merit in this case to recognise blatant refereeing mistakes in their favor
5 Go to commentsNice article. Shades of Steinbeck. They can win the final if they take the game seriously; but only if they take it seriously.
5 Go to commentsWhat a sad way to end a glittering career. Somebody should tell him to delete his social media accounts and face the consequences of what he's done. Then he should slip away quietly into obscurity. This isn't likely to happen, something tells me he'll be back in The Sun / Daily Mail sooner rather than later.
5 Go to commentsguys its fine! he understands why he did what he did and has taken accountability for it; why should he have to be accountable to a court? after all he did was abuse people in person - its not as if he was engaging in _online_ abuse!
5 Go to commentsChiefs flanker Kaylum Boshier yellow-carded for collapsing the scrum as it rolled towards the line. It was a maul….
1 Go to commentsyou know, i’m a leinster fan so I want Northampton to lose and it is gonna be tuff with Cortney lawes, Alex michell and the other guys🏉 lets go leinster🏉
1 Go to commentsWelcome to the Pro ranks. Those hard teams of old do hit the sole better though. its a dog fight at the top.
6 Go to commentsCan someone fill me in please, I've read a number of Ben Smith articles now and it seems he's got something again South Africa? Surely, this game was over and done with 7 months ago. Can't we have something a bit more interesting and relevant, or is this the calibre of journalist on this site?
237 Go to commentsNot sure what the Welsh are moaning about. They’ve had far more players off England, than England have had off Wales. Guys like Josh Hathaway and Kane James will play for Wales in the end. And they’ll be fsr better players for having played in the Gallagher Premiership, than they ever would have been had they stayed mired in the shambles that is Welsh rugby.
4 Go to commentsThis is all being blown totally out of proportion. First of all, since half the Irish team isn’t Irish - it’s very likely that none of the Irish players said that at all and, thus, we’re not being arrogant. Second, since half the Irish team is Kiwi - it’s very likely the Kiwi players were predicting a NZ SA World Cup final. Which they got spot on. Good on them!
163 Go to commentsAha. An Irishman with logic! Follow the flow: - Ireland peaks with a >80% win record between 2020 and 2023. And then… - crashes out of another QF at the WC; - Beat a poor French Team; - Beat 6N wooden spoonists Italy; - Play shite against eventual wooden spoonists Wales; - Lose against the most boring, “the worst English team ever” , a team widely regarded as unable to attack; - scrape through against Scotland. This article, No - Trimble, is on the money! Except for one glaring statement: _The Springboks have a few aces in the hole in this debate being the reigning world champions and official world number ones_ There is no debate, boys and girls. There it is. In black and white. “Reigning World Champions and OFFICIAL world number ones”. Come July, the overrated Andy Farrell and this overhyped team are going to enter into a world of hurt.
90 Go to commentsI’d like to know what homoerotic events Daniel enjoyed at 8th man. I clearly missed out!
20 Go to commentsThis article is missing some detail, like some actual context or info about what led to him abusing the ref.
2 Go to comments*They used to say that football is a gentleman sport watched by hooligans and rugby is a hooligan sport watched by gentlemen. How times have changed.*
3 Go to comments