Ref Watch: Am grounding, fortunate Kolbe and why Jaco Johan can take a week off
After undergoing several days of forensic analysis, ordeal by Twitter, accusation and counter-accusation rarely can any set of match officials have entered a test match under more pressure.
It will therefore be extremely gratifying for them to look back on a really solid performance – which now needs replicating when Mathieu Raynal moves from the touchline to being the man in the middle of next week’s series decider.
The post-match litmus test applied by officials at every level asks whether the better team won regardless of their decision making, and few surely would query South Africa’s deserved success.
In commentary Sam Warburton noted that penalties are usually conceded by sides who are under pressure, and as the table below shows, in this respect one team clearly dominated the second half.
Quarter 1 | Quarter 2 | Quarter 3 | Quarter 4 | |
Pens against SA | 5 | 4 | 1 | 0 |
Pens against BIL | 3 | 3 | 2 | 7 |
The calmest man in Cape Town
This was a game played right on the edge, and at times beyond it, so it was no surprise that man-in-the-van Marius Jonker was regularly called into action during a 62-minute first half.
It was therefore hard to disagree with TV pundit Ronan O’Gara’s half-time prediction that the tinder box would explode and a red card would be seen at some point in the second period.
But much more rugby was played after the break and while the game never totally lost its abrasive undercurrent, as time passed it also seemed far less likely to erupt.
This change in temperature was in no small part due to referee Ben O’Keefe’s outstanding communication and game management skills.
From the outset his decision making was well thought through and clearly explained.
It was also very noticeable from a management perspective how quickly he transferred responsibility to the captains. As early as the second minute Alun Wyn Jones and Siya Kolisi were advised to speak to their players following a scuffle and left in no doubt that penalties and cards would follow any repetition.
After last week’s scruffy performance from Nic Berry, O’Keefe set out with the clear intention of stamping his authority on the match from the outset.
Game on ? pic.twitter.com/5I8VYTBtjU
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) July 31, 2021
Hence he made no attempt to play advantage when Mako Vunipola was on the wrong side in the first minute, when the Lions were offside in midfield two minutes later or at the first scrum when he opted for a free kick when a reset would have more usually followed.
As a consequence, while there were a few talking points later in the game, you never felt control of the contest got away from him. Maybe Jaco Johan can take a few days off…
Yellow Cards
It is perhaps indicative of the changed nature of rugby union that the first two yellow cards of the series were both shown to wingers.
Scotland’s Duane van der Merwe went to the sin-bin first for a trip and he was joined on the sidelines two minutes later by his opposite number Cheslin Kolbe who mistimed an aerial challenge on Conor Murray.
It was interesting to note that neither offence had any element of intent in it – which in days past would have been a key factor in the referee’s decision-making process.
Van der Merwe was wrong-footed and stuck out an off-balance foot with which he appeared to aim a fly-hack at a loose ball. Unfortunately, he was very late and nowhere close to his intended target. If this was a clear-cut yellow, Kolbe was much more fortunate to escape a red card for going underneath Murray’s leap and tipping the Ireland no.9 into a heavy landing.
Kolbe’s eyes never waivered from the ball in the air, but current directives insist that players should be mindful of risk at all times. In mistiming his kick chase and making contact with Murray while he was at the apex of his jump Kolbe clearly failed to satisfy this requirement.
Should Kolbe have seen red? ?
Credit: @SkySportsRugby | #LionsRugby #RSAvBIL pic.twitter.com/f7j8Wn1q40
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) August 1, 2021
Murray broke his fall with his arms – but as former World Cup final referee Nigel Owens observed in commentary this is not a factor that officials now include in the decision-making process.
Lions replacement Elliot Daly was sent off early in his England career for a very similar mistimed aerial challenge during an autumn international against Argentina. Kolbe must have come very close to also seeing red.
Second Offences?
Sky’s coverage previously highlighted two incidents which the officials chose not to penalise, one involving van der Merwe and the other Kolbe.
The Lions winger made a tackle he could have pulled out of some time after the ball had gone, while Kolbe’s upright body position in a tackle led to a clash of heads with Tom Curry.
Had either been penalised – or carded – it is interesting to speculate whether their later offences would have seen tougher sanctions applied on a ‘totting-up’ principle.
TMO Grounding Decisions
The Lions went closest to scoring five minutes before the break when Robbie Henshaw recovered Dan Biggar’s chip before being wrapped up and subsequently losing the ball to a superb piece of Kolisi defence.
It is extremely difficult to prevent a rugby ball being grounded with one hand – due to its shape and length. Despite this, O’Keefe’s onfield call meant the TMO was required to find conclusive evidence that ball and ground came in contact and from the angles shown to British and Irish viewers there was none.
Jonker’s second key moment came when Lukhanyo Am touched down Handre Pollard’s delicate kick ahead to claim his country’s second try.
The TV commentary for me confused rather than simplified the long debate which followed between O’Keefe and his TMO.
Law is extremely clear that a player grounding a loose ball – usually following a kick ahead – only requires downward pressure with any part of his upper body or arms other than his head.
Only when a player is carrying the ball does the question of whether he has it under control become relevant.
The first replay made it obvious that Am had downward pressure – after which the only debate was whether his first touch knocked it forward prior to the grounding being completed. For me the correct call was made.
Anorak’s Corner
The law book contains fewer dusty corners than in times gone by, but a few technical offences remain which very few officials apply in practice.
Feeding the scrum heads this ‘blind eye’ list – I hasten to add that I find this situation as baffling as most rugby fans.
But prior to Faf De Klerk being pinged by O’Keefe, when did anyone last penalise a scrum half making a dummy run from the base of a scrum or breakdown?
The Springboks coach was happy with the deflection of attention the team received. #RSAvBIL https://t.co/EUpIyIXDvf
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) August 1, 2021
Maul or Tackle?
Am I alone in finding it irritating when a clearly formed maul (which only requires the ball-carrier to be in contact with one further player from each side) is belatedly called as a tackle?
Referees do this because it prevents a pile-up, requires the defenders to release and roll away and allows continuity in play. However, it is clearly not what the law-makers intend – and by interpreting this incorrectly O’Keefe almost had a material impact on this match.
Biggar’s 49th minute penalty, which struck the post, followed the hosts being penalised for not releasing the ball-carrier in a situation which (with three players from both sides in contact) was clearly a maul not a tackle.
Comments on RugbyPass
Thanks, Nick, not only for this fine article, but for all the others during 6N 2024. I really enjoyed this 2024 tournament, and felt it was one of the best for many years. That final match in Lyons was really good. England were certainly unlucky when that speculative hack by Ramos lead to a French try. It could just so easily have landed in English hand.s, and they score at the other end. I did think though that the French played some great rugby, and some of their driving play in the forwards was just fearsome. I watched Meafou with interest, and he has a good start to his career. It is interesting to compare him with Will Skelton. Lot of similarities, though so far Meafou has not shown any offloading threat. All credit to Borthwick for being prepared to change, and what great result, even if that last game was lost at the death. I feel they are a real chance to cause the AB’s problems this winter/summer. Finally a comment on Ireland. I thought their last game was their worst, and they did not look like the world’s No 2 side at all. What really worries me is that the loss to England was, in my view, down to poor decision making by the coaching group, and ofc Andy Farrell wears that. It was a big mistake to move JGP away from scrum half. Murray should have been the one to go to the wing. And the “finishers” should have been on the field earlier. And this is the second time this has happened. The RWC Qf against the AB’s, and not getting Crowley onto the field was a huge mistake. Finally, finally, watching Italy play was a joy. How wonderful that they are no longer the punchbag of the 6 N.
41 Go to commentsGreat story. Rugby needs new investment in teams like Brussels another pro league in Europe would be great.
1 Go to commentsAlso, looking at the data from last year, it seemed like by far the two biggest predictors of success were (1) kicking more than your opponents, and (2) having a higher rate of line-out wins than your opponents. I haven’t gone through the stats this year with a fine tooth comb, but the increase in kicks per game and the increase in tries from lineouts would suggest that these two metrics are only getting more important. England’s move away from a kick-heavy game to win against Ireland was seen by some as evidence that running rugby is on the rise. Alternatively it could be taken as evidence that if one team kicks more, and the other team wins more lineouts (as England did) a match is bound to be close to a draw.
2 Go to commentsI have been finding it odd that points per 22 entry has become such a talked about stat, given that your points per entry can be driven down by having more entries. These data would seem to confirm that it isn’t a useful metric, or at any rate is less useful than total entries.
2 Go to commentsI think the last two games England have played is some of their best rugby they have played under Borthwick. There has been a lot more attacking instinct and as a reward have created some well worked tries. Ollie Lawrence is a good foil at 12 as he offers the hard direct lines whilst the rest of the backs can play open. As much as it pains me to say but I do hope England keep playing this way. On a side note my favourite try of the weekend was Lorenzo Pani’s for the nice loop play that put him away and his finish was excellent. Thanks as always Nick.
41 Go to commentsMost exciting player on the planet right now, worth the price of a ticket.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith and Ireland live rent free in Safa’s heads. Their comments only triggers because its true. If the Boks had dismantled a 14 man AB’s, then there would be more respect. But they didnt, in fact quite the opposite, the 14 man NZ were clearly better. And the Bok have always been ordinary between RWC’s, thats why their supporters are now ‘only RWC’s matter’. They know thats BS. Its BS to both AB’s and Bok’s due to their history. But now its all the Safas have. Now we’ll hear excuses when they lose “oh we didnt have all our players available, the ABs/France/Eng/Irel were at full strength”, forgetting for a minute that its because of their own dumb policy. Oh well, makes a change from blaming ‘cheating refs’.
23 Go to commentsNo Nick, they did not, in fact, justify any ‘probables’ label. At no time did they seriously compete for the championship. Ireland led from start to finish and in the end, as a result of glaring referee errors, were never under serious pressure to lose their crown.
41 Go to commentsMoney for him, and his family, has been the sole motivator since he signed for Queensland aged 17. Why else sign for Melbourne. Tupou is poorly advised. If he’d stayed and developed in NZ he would have had a long Test career. If Leinster offer him a few more coins than he’s currently earning, he’s goneburger.
4 Go to commentsFinn. No one would say Ford had played well up until the last game. One standout performance in 5 is hardly in form . It should be a given that a 10 will control play . Not in Fords case be praised for suddenly doing so. Where was he against Scotland ,Italy. The pundits were saying how far away from play he was standing and one even said that the Ireland game was his last chance saloon to perform . Not exactly top form catching anyones eye. If he can play like this game after game then great. Keep him in . But after 90 odd caps we all know he just doesnt keep it going . By all means keep him there but the issue is that Borthwick will persist even when he plays poorly. Which is more often than not. Thats why i am concerned that Smith ,despite fab form , cannot get a game at his preferred spot. Can you imagine Ford at full back .
5 Go to commentsI do not really get why put Ollivon at 6 when he’s a 7, while Cros was the best Frenchman of the tournament, playing at…6. His only game replacing Aldritt at 8 doesn’t change much in terms of his impact. Lamaro was also outstanding in that brilliant Italian side, probably better than Reffell. So putting 2 Welsh players from the wooden spoon holders, and none of the 4th nation (Scotland) is also strange. Is it about showing that in this harsh transition Wales is, there were some standouts…?
6 Go to commentsThe events at this year’s six nations should undermine many of the arguments made against promotion and relegation between the six nations and the REC. If Italy had been allowed to yo-yo between divisions it conceivably could have really hurt their development, but if Italy, Wales, and Scotland are all at risk of relegation, with none of them being relegated more often than once every 3 or 4 years, you’d have to back all of them to muddle on through it, especially when you factor in the likelihood they’ll still be guaranteed world league matches against tier 1 opponents. Another way of looking at italys resurgence would be to say that the development model of adding an extra team to the six nations has worked, and now must be done again. Georgia could join to make it a 7 team round robin, and if and when Georgia demonstrate an ability to consistently win games, Portugal can also be added to make it an 8 team 2 conference competition. Frankly at this point I think it falls to world rugby to demand that the 6N act in the interests of the game. If the 6N won’t commit to expansion then the 6N teams should be handicapped in world cup draws (i.e. world cup seedings would not be based on their ranking points, but on their ranking points minus a 5 point penalty).
6 Go to commentsSteve Borthwick deserves credit for releasing the shackles on his England side and letting them play in a manner that somewhat resembles the top sides in the Gallagher Premiership. Will they revert to type in New Zealand in July.?
41 Go to commentsJames Lowe wouldn't get in any other 6N team. He's a great example of Farrell’s brilliance, and the Irish system. He is slow. His footwork is poor. But he fits perfectly in that Irish system, and has a superb impact. But put him in another team, and he'll look bang average.
6 Go to commentsCrusaders reached their heights through recruitment of North Island players, often leaving those NI teams bereft of key players. Example: Scott Barrett and Sam Whitelock robbed the Canes of their lineout and AB locks. For years the Canes have struggled at lock. This rabid recruitment was iniated by rule changes by a Crusader dominated NZR Head Office. Now this aggressive recruitment has back-fired, going after young inside back Hamilton Boys stars. They now have 4 Chiefs region 10s and not one with the requisite experience at Super level. Problems of their own making!
2 Go to commentsOver rated for a long time…exposed at scrum time too.
4 Go to comments“Firing me” should have been Gatland’s answer.
2 Go to commentsFinn Russell logic: “World” = 4 countries. Ireland may be at or near the top. FR’s bigger concern should be he and his fellow Scots (incl. the Bloemfontein ones) sliding back down to below top 10
42 Go to commentsMind games have begun. Ireland learned their lesson after saying they could beat England with 13 players or whatever. Still, if they win at Loftus, that would be impressive - final frontier etc.
58 Go to comments$950k for a Prop that isn’t fit enough to play 10 mins of rugby? Surely there is someone better to replace Big Mike with
4 Go to comments