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Ref report cards - rating Wayne Barnes' France vs Wales performance

By Paul Smith
Wayne Barnes

With Japan 2019 looming into view, the Six Nations offers a last opportunity for players to press their case for selection.

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This is also the case for the match officials, a number of whom retain realistic ambitions of following in the footsteps of Kerry Fitzgerald, Derek Bevan, Ed Morrison, Andre Watson, Alain Rolland, Craig Joubert and Nigel Owens in taking charge of a World Cup final.

For World Rugby’s five-strong match official selection committee, including manager Joel Jutge, performances in the Northern Hemisphere’s elite competition will therefore be under close scrutiny.

And with each of this year’s 15 matches being under the control of a different referee, the contenders have only one chance to impress.

Former Birmingham Mail and Coventry Telegraph rugby correspondent Paul Smith took charge of the whistle at more than 800 matches – here is his assessment of the first weekend’s officials.

Continue reading below…

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France 19-24 Wales – referee: Wayne Barnes (England)

Management and Communication

The most experienced referee in world rugby, for whom Japan 2019 will be a fitting finale to an outstanding career, Barnes exudes confidence and calmness.

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But like any referee, his ability to communicate to equal effect with both teams is language dependent – and his French is very limited.

Barnes deserves credit for making an effort – the ref mic picked up “attend pour le balloon” plus “advantage – en avant,” “lentement” and “melee rouge”.

But in this preventative refereeing age, while he was able to hold more detailed conversations with the Welsh players, the fact that not all of the French 23 speak fluent English put them at an immediate disadvantage.

For instance, “we need tempo in the game” was directed at les Bleus shortly before the interval, while the front rows heard – but possibly didn’t totally understand – “let’s get this working on this side please, good heights from both of you”.

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Should Jacques Brunel’s team make the knock-out stages in Japan it is essential for the competition’s credibility that they encounter a bi-lingual referee – the supply of which is far from plentiful outside of France – to ensure the contest takes place on a level playing field.

In-Match Refereeing Trends

The match swung in Wales’ favour from the half-hour mark onwards, and as a consequence they retrieved a 16-point deficit.

From a refereeing perspective, the scrum was the key factor in this, with the hosts conceding three penalties and two free-kicks while the visitors infringed only once. This gave Wales both possession and territory.

North rises high in what was a vintage performance

Barnes will have been aware pre-match of the huge pack selected by France, which along with the emphasis they put on scrummaging will have sharpened his focus on this area.

Key Moments

Crowd noise following a big screen replay drew Barnes’ attention to Liam Williams’ non-grounding of the ball for a try which he had awarded at the end of the opening quarter.

The TMO may have been in the process of reviewing the situation – but either way the English official’s experience showed, as he immediately positioned himself in front of the ball to prevent a conversion attempt while the grounding was examined.

Barnes later ruled out another Welsh score when Ross Moriarty went through a gap which he identified as being illegally created by Alun Wyn Jones’ block – this was done without a lengthy TMO delay.

Barnes also enjoyed the rare distinction of drawing praise from the TV pundits, when his patient wait for an unlikely Welsh advantage to come to fruition ended with Yoann Huget fumbling a kick for George North’s second try.

Huget’s own earlier score also resulted from Barnes’ use of a long advantage following a Wales lineout knock-on, despite two subsequent phases of slow possession resulting.

World Cup?

Barnes is a certainty to make the selection cut, and a strong contender for the knock-out phases. Should things go well from there – and England not be involved – his case for a final appointment may well be persuasive, but will the language barrier be considered a problem?

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Jon 5 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”?

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j
john 8 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.

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A
Adrian 10 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
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