Select Edition

Northern Northern
Southern Southern
Global Global
NZ NZ

Ref Watch: Andrew Brace not at fault, England were

By Paul Smith
Andrew Brace /(Photo by ADRIAN DENNIS/AFP via Getty Images)

In a new feature, former referee Paul Smith looks at the refereeing performances of officials during each Six Nations match. Welcome to ‘Ref Watch’. 

ADVERTISEMENT

England v Scotland (Andrew Brace – Ireland)
When preparing to take charge of the Calcutta Cup Andrew Brace would have been aware that England spent 2020 giving away reams of needless penalties and that getting his key messages across to a side which seems intent on pushing every available disciplinary envelope might be a challenge.

He would also have known that forecast wet weather and a Scotland side that finished last year’s competition strongly would make for a tight, competitive contest in which accuracy in the award of kickable penalties would be especially vital.

Video Spacer

Itoje reacts to England’s shock loss:

Video Spacer

Itoje reacts to England’s shock loss:

In the event both these likelihoods became reality and despite what social media appears to have determined the Irish official can look back on a job well done.

Referees at every level ask themselves one big question on their journey home – would the outcome have been the same without my decision-making… or put another way did the better side win? With their superiority at the scrum, lineout and breakdown and their outstanding defence Scotland were unquestionably deserving winners irrespective of their concession of under 30 per cent of awarded penalties.

Quarter 1Quarter 2Quarter 3Quarter 4
Pens against England73 (YC)41
Pens against Scotland13 (YC)20

 

What worked and what didn’t?
The reducing by-quarter penalty trend is a big tick in Brace’s post-match review since it suggests his approach worked across the 80 minutes, while quarter four shows the players found it entirely possible to operate within parameters he set.

His interaction with TMO Joy Neville was generally good, and especially so in the sin-binning of Finn Russell. Brace’s positioning and the speed of Ben Youngs’ sidestep meant the off-balance fly half’s instinctive trip on the England No.9 went unspotted in real-time. Once Neville drew his attention to it a yellow card was an appropriate outcome.

ADVERTISEMENT
Ref watch
Finn Russell was binned for a trip /PA

The scrum – where Scotland mostly had the upper hand – was a problem area throughout and when Brace looks back at the match he will ask himself what (if anything) he could have done differently. Only three of the ten scrums completed and in addition to four penalty and three free kick awards four setpieces were reset.

Talking Points
Everyone who has refereed for a reasonable period of time has one or two teams they consistently find difficulty with and others with whom everything always just seems to work.

Often this is a simple matter of finding the wavelength at which everyone is able to harmoniously operate. The players and coaches need to understand what the official wants while he/she seeks to get to grips with what they are trying to achieve.

ADVERTISEMENT

A lot of this boils down to communication, then to whether those involved are willing to listen, process information and respond (or alternatively if their leaders are strong and smart enough to swiftly bring non-listeners and slow learners into line).

Based on their repeated concession of huge numbers of penalties, it is impossible to avoid the conclusion that England are from a refereeing perspective one of these frustratingly difficult teams. They play too close to the edge too much of the time, and the fact that multiple different officials from Northern and Southern Hemispheres keep penalising the same things suggests the problem lies within the team’s coaching and leadership.

France have recently worked with now-retired 2019 World Cup final referee Jerome Garces in an attempt to improve their discipline, and if Eddie Jones is yet to pick up the phone to a similarly well-qualified figure he is missing a trick.

Jerome Garces gestures
Referee Jerome Garces gestures during the World Cup Pool B game between New Zealand and South Africa in Yokohama (Photo by Hannah Peters/Getty Images)

When Brace reviews his performance he will see England conceded nine penalties in the opening 23 minutes (actually ten since Billy Vunipola’s sin-binning for a high tackle came when advantage was being played from the Saracens’ No.8’s earlier offside).

Since England conceded only six further penalties in the remaining 57 minutes Brace may conclude that his team warning and subsequent sanction came a few penalties too late. Let’s hope England conclude they need to do something about their discipline rather than again hiding behind a slightly disingenuous “we got on the wrong side of the referee.”

ADVERTISEMENT

Join free

Aotearoa Rugby Podcast | Episode 6

Sam Warburton | The Big Jim Show | Full Episode

Japan Rugby League One | Sungoliath v Eagles | Full Match Replay

Japan Rugby League One | Spears v Wild Knights | Full Match Replay

Boks Office | Episode 10 | Six Nations Final Round Review

Aotearoa Rugby Podcast | How can New Zealand rugby beat this Ireland team

Beyond 80 | Episode 5

Rugby Europe Men's Championship Final | Georgia v Portugal | Full Match Replay

Trending on RugbyPass

Comments

Join free and tell us what you really think!

Sign up for free
ADVERTISEMENT

Latest Features

Comments on RugbyPass

J
Jon 4 hours ago
Jake White: Are modern rugby players actually better?

This is the problem with conservative mindsets and phycology, and homogenous sports, everybody wants to be the same, use the i-win template. Athlete wise everyone has to have muscles and work at the gym to make themselves more likely to hold on that one tackle. Do those players even wonder if they are now more likely to be tackled by that player as a result of there “work”? Really though, too many questions, Jake. Is it better Jake? Yes, because you still have that rugby of ole that you talk about. Is it at the highest International level anymore? No, but you go to your club or checkout your representative side and still engage with that ‘beautiful game’. Could you also have a bit of that at the top if coaches encouraged there team to play and incentivized players like Damian McKenzie and Ange Capuozzo? Of course we could. Sadly Rugby doesn’t, or didn’t, really know what direction to go when professionalism came. Things like the state of northern pitches didn’t help. Over the last two or three decades I feel like I’ve been fortunate to have all that Jake wants. There was International quality Super Rugby to adore, then the next level below I could watch club mates, pulling 9 to 5s, take on the countries best in representative rugby. Rugby played with flair and not too much riding on the consequences. It was beautiful. That largely still exists today, but with the world of rugby not quite getting things right, the picture is now being painted in NZ that that level of rugby is not required in the “pathway” to Super Rugby or All Black rugby. You might wonder if NZR is right and the pathway shouldn’t include the ‘amateur’, but let me tell you, even though the NPC might be made up of people still having to pull 9-5s, we know these people still have dreams to get out of that, and aren’t likely to give them. They will be lost. That will put a real strain on the concept of whether “visceral thrill, derring-do and joyful abandon” type rugby will remain under the professional level here in NZ. I think at some point that can be eroded as well. If only wanting the best athlete’s at the top level wasn’t enough to lose that, shutting off the next group, or level, or rugby players from easy access to express and showcase themselves certainly will. That all comes back around to the same question of professionalism in rugby and whether it got things right, and rugby is better now. Maybe the answer is turning into a “no”?

35 Go to comments
j
john 7 hours ago
Will the Crusaders' decline spark a slow death for New Zealand rugby?

But here in Australia we were told Penney was another gun kiwi coach, for the Tahs…….and yet again it turned out the kiwi coach was completely useless. Another con job on Australian rugby. As was Robbie Deans, as was Dave Rennie. Both coaches dumped from NZ and promoted to Australia as our saviour. And the Tahs lap them up knowing they are second rate and knowing that under pressure when their short comings are exposed in Australia as well, that they will fall in below the largest most powerful province and choose second rate Tah players to save their jobs. As they do and exactly as Joe Schmidt will do. Gauranteed. Schmidt was dumped by NZ too. That’s why he went overseas. That why kiwi coaches take jobs in Australia, to try and prove they are not as bad as NZ thought they were. Then when they get found out they try and ingratiate themselves to NZ again by dragging Australian teams down with ridiculous selections and game plans. NZ rugby’s biggest problem is that it can’t yet transition from MCaw Cheatism. They just don’t know how to try and win on your merits. It is still always a contest to see how much cheating you can get away with. Without a cheating genius like McCaw, they are struggling. This I think is why my wise old mate in NZ thinks Robertson will struggle. The Crusaders are the nursery of McCaw Cheatism. Sean Fitzpatrick was probably the father of it. Robertson doesn’t know anything else but other countries have worked it out.

30 Go to comments
A
Adrian 9 hours ago
Will the Crusaders' decline spark a slow death for New Zealand rugby?

Thanks Nick The loss of players to OS, injury and retirement is certainly not helping the Crusaders. Ditto the coach. IMO Penny is there to hold the fort and cop the flak until new players and a new coach come through,…and that's understood and accepted by Penny and the Crusaders hierarchy. I think though that what is happening with the Crusaders is an indicator of what is happening with the other NZ SRP teams…..and the other SRP teams for that matter. Not enough money. The money has come via the SR competition and it’s not there anymore. It's in France, Japan and England. Unless or until something is done to make SR more SELLABLE to the NZ/Australia Rugby market AND the world rugby market the $s to keep both the very best players and the next rung down won't be there. They will play away from NZ more and more. I think though that NZ will continue to produce the players and the coaches of sufficient strength for NZ to have the capacity to stay at the top. Whether they do stay at the top as an international team will depend upon whether the money flowing to SRP is somehow restored, or NZ teams play in the Japan comp, or NZ opts to pick from anywhere. As a follower of many sports I’d have to say that the organisation and promotion of Super Rugby has been for the last 20 years closest to the worst I’ve ever seen. This hasn't necessarily been caused by NZ, but it’s happened. Perhaps it can be fixed, perhaps not. The Crusaders are I think a symptom of this, not the cause

30 Go to comments
T
Trevor 12 hours ago
Will forgotten Wallabies fit the Joe Schmidt model?

Thanks Brett.. At last a positive article on the potential of Wallaby candidates, great to read. Schmidt’s record as an international rugby coach speaks for itself, I’m somewhat confident he will turn the Wallaby’s fortunes around …. on the field. It will be up to others to steady the ship off the paddock. But is there a flaw in my optimism? We have known all along that Australia has the players to be very competitive with their international rivals. We know that because everyone keeps telling us. So why the poor results? A question that requires a definitive answer before the turn around can occur. Joe Schmidt signed on for 2 years, time to encompass the Lions tour of 2025. By all accounts he puts family first and that’s fair enough, but I would wager that his 2 year contract will be extended if the next 18 months or so shows the statement “Australia has the players” proves to be correct. The new coach does not have a lot of time to meld together an outfit that will be competitive in the Rugby Championship - it will be interesting to see what happens. It will be interesting to see what happens with Giteau law, the new Wallaby coach has already verbalised that he would to prefer to select from those who play their rugby in Australia. His first test in charge is in July just over 3 months away .. not a long time. I for one wish him well .. heaven knows Australia needs some positive vibes.

21 Go to comments
TRENDING
TRENDING 'I didn't think it would happen this early': Carbery on Munster exit 'I didn't think it would happen this early': Carbery on Munster exit
Search